In an interview with TVI, António Costa, he said: “We have gone through moments when we feared that we would sink to the bottom. But today, thanks to vaccinations, we are just weeks away from being able to consider having achieved a pandemic control process. It has not disappeared, it will continue to travel around the world, the risks of the multiplication of variants on other continents remain, but we are going to manage to reach a point of safety”.

In the interview, the prime minister argued that the Portuguese economy (in particular companies) showed a high level of resilience, justifying his thesis mainly on the basis of the current unemployment rate.

“Fortunately, we are not on the Titanic, nor is the ship sinking. On the contrary, the boat proved to withstand the storm well. I think we are in a good condition to sail through calm waters”, he added.

In an allusion to the execution of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), António Costa said that he is aware of "the enormous challenges" that his Government faces and refused very negative consequences with the end of State support for the economy and people .

“This trend [in support] has been decreasing. There was a time when the intensity of support was very high, when we had many companies resorting to lay-off and many jobs supported by lay-off, but progressively, this support has ceased to be necessary”, he claimed.

At this point, the prime minister advocated that Portugal “is once again growing above the European average, as happened in 2017, 2018 and 2019”.