Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said Saturday the country faces a tough road ahead after its top court once again blew a hole in the government's budget by declaring cost-cutting efforts unconstitutional, dpa reported. "It will not be easy to find a way out of this," said Passos Coelho. "The government will not be rushed into a decision." However, he said his administration would respect the ruling, keep Portugal from descending into crisis and find a solution that did not require asking EU allies for aid. But he said he was "deeply concerned." The Friday ruling by Portugal's top court said that about 1 billion euros in benefit cuts for public employees would be discriminatory and, therefore, unlawful. The ruling will make it harder still to balance the budget in Portugal, one of the nations at the centre of the eurozone debt crisis.
