"I completely understand it when the Portuguese
Prime Minister says he will take the decision when it needs to
be taken and Germany will support any decision.. We have stood
by Portugal and we will continue to do so," she said.
Some economists fear that Portugal may need a further loan from
creditors after it exits the bailout. Passos Coelho said
Portugal had not yet decided how to exit the bailout.
"I took the opportunity to tell Chancellor Merkel that the
Portuguese government has not yet taken a decision about when we
will exit the program," he said, adding that the most
important thing was that Portugal was discussing "how to exit
rather than whether we need another program".
Merkel also said it would be important if Europe agrees to a
banking union in the next few days.
(Reporting by Gernot Heller, Madeline Chambers, Stephen Brown,
Erik Kirschbaum)
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