Portuguese PM looks for unity over austerity cuts Portuguese Prime Minister, Pedro Passos Coelho, has announced a raft of new austerity measures aimed at plugging the floundering economy's 4.8 billion euro budget gap by 2015. The government intends to increase the retirement age by one year to 66, cut 30,000 public sector jobs, increase the maximum weekly working time from 35 to 40 hours and introduce a new tax to bolster pension funds. Coelho called for unity on the measures saying The financial assistance program alone requires already a large political and social consensus. But the value of consensus is even more important when what is in stake is our participation in the euro and the respect of its obligations. The European Commission warned on Friday that the new measures must not run into the same problems which saw the Constitutional Court thrown out 1.3 billion euros of savings last month. Meanwhile union members expressed their opposition to the measures. Armenio Carlos of the CGTP, the country's largest umbrella union, opposes the proposed changes: We do not accept this brutal attack against civil servants, against pensioners, against Portuguese workers. And we also do not accept that, because of these measures, fundamental public services will be put into question, namely in health, education and social security. But analysts say that despite opposition from political parties and social movements it will be difficult for judges to overrule them as the new measures will promote equality by bringing public sector hours and pay in line with the private sector. More about: Austerity, Economic crisis, Pedro Passos Coelho, Portugal, Portuguese economy