Whether or not Portugal can avoid becoming the next domino to fall may no longer be in its hands.
ECONOMIST: Chronically weak growth is Portugal��s gravest problem
That makes the case for Spanish sovereign debt restructuring (not just Portugal) more likely, says Fernandez.
This has not pleased Portugal, which, unlike Britain, has long granted full citizenship to its colonial subjects.
But the EU will surely not lend Portugal stacks of cash for long without the fund alongside or without tough reforms attached.
But it is hard to find any outside analyst who believes this, not least because Portugal's biggest export market, Spain, has problems of its own.
Now I know many will choke on this and say that Portugal and Spain are not as indebted as Greece or Ireland, but Portugal is sliding downhill fast and Spain has recently made a genuine hash of its banks mia culpa.
"To score seven goals in a World Cup is not easy" said Portugal captain Ronaldo.
Portugal did not go for counter-attacking only -- they were able to make perfect transitions from attack to defence.
The former UK prime minister said it was not only Greece, Portugal and Ireland facing the threat of euro exit.
VAT, in order to ensure that Portugal does not flout the deficit ceiling of 3% imposed by the euro-zone's stability pact.
Even today, Portugal has not yet recovered its 17th-century position relative to other European economies, and it remains the poorest country in Western Europe.
Portugal has not been helped by its indecisive and bickering politicians.
It does not help Greece, Portugal and the rest compete with Germany, but it at least gives their firms a chance against imports from outside the euro bloc.
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Portugal has not legalised drugs but it has a system of not imposing criminal penalties on drug users who enter into special programmes designed to end their habits.
Portugal has not yet called on money from the European bail-out fund, but many analysts believe it is just a matter of time as the country's economic situation worsens.
Unlike Ireland, Portugal has not suffered a housing-market collapse.
ECONOMIST: The government insists it is neither Greece nor Ireland
But as a broken Ireland seeks help and a shaky Portugal puts Iberia in the spotlight (not least because Spanish banks are heavily exposed to Portugal), there are understandable fears that Spain will catch the bug next.
But will the Italians, Spanish, and Greeks give in as well (not to mention Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus, etc, )?
To emphasize once again, this is not about Spain, Greece Portugal.
The ECB will not protect Spain, or Portugal, or Italy from being discriminated against by the markets - from paying higher interest rates to borrow than, say, Germany.
Raul Meireles, industrious in midfield, had a shot deflected wide, while Ronaldo, who has not found the net for Portugal since February 2009, missed the target with a free-kick.
If there's to be a Greek disorderly default (hypotheticals are Greek too), not only does it trigger default swaps sweeping through the financial sector, but it raises the obvious question for the bond markets: if eurozone partners will let Greece go, why not Italy, Spain, Portugal or Ireland, so who's next?
Renewed worries about sovereign debt in Portugal and Spain were not assuaged by those countries' tough new budgetary measures.
But when he was not voyaging he lived mainly in Portugal and Spain.
But even economists who stress the need to cut deficits say giving countries like Portugal more time is not enough.
The European creditor nations led by Germany would do their utmost to safeguard Portugal and Ireland, not least to contain the after-shocks.
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What about the debt of Ireland, Portugal and Spain, not to mention Italy, whose impeccable AA credit rating was just lowered a notch?
FORBES: The Contagion Moves From Greece To Ireland To Portugal To Spain
In the euro area job prospects diverge hugely: unemployment is falling in Germany but Greece, Ireland and Portugal have joblessness rates not seen since the early 1990s (see bottom chart).
His Portuguese colleague Marisa Matias claimed the policy went against an earlier threat by the EU to suspend cohesion funds from countries - like Portugal - who did not meet their public deficit targets.
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