According to a spokesman for the meeting, which saw the scheduling of legislative initiatives through to 12 February, the secretary of state made clear that the deadline assumes that the Economic and Social Committee - the statutory body on which employer organisations and trade union organisations are represented - gives an opinion on the bill in the first few days of February.

The timetable for parliament's debate and vote on the budget will only be laid out once the bill is submitted, added the spokesman, Duarte Pacheco of the opposition Social Democrats.

Meanwhile, in Brussels, the European Commission declined to comment on its talks with Portugal's government on the 2016 budget, saying that it would only do so after taking a look at the draft. At the daily news conference, Annika Breidthardt the spokeswoman for the commissioner economic affairs said the document should be arriving Lisbon, Jan. 20 (Lusa) - Portugal's Socialist government expects to submit the draft 2016 budget bill to parliament in the first week of February, the secretary of state for parliamentary affairs told a meeting of the leaders of the various parties in the assembly on Wednesday.

According to a spokesman for the meeting, which saw the scheduling of legislative initiatives through to 12 February, the secretary of state made clear that the deadline assumes that the Economic and Social Committee - the statutory body on which employer organisations and trade union organisations are represented - gives an opinion on the bill in the first few days of February.

The timetable for parliament's debate and vote on the budget will only be laid out once the bill is submitted, added the spokesman, Duarte Pacheco of the opposition Social Democrats.

Meanwhile, in Brussels, the European Commission declined to comment on its talks with Portugal's government on the 2016 budget, saying that it would only do so after taking a look at the draft. At the daily news conference, Annika Breidthardt the spokeswoman for the commissioner economic affairs said the document should be arriving "very shortly" and that the commission was "in close contact" with the Portuguese authorities as it is "with any member state" during such proceedings.

The prime minister António Costa, had on Tuesday described the government's talks with the commission on the budget as difficult, noting that the institution wanted Portugal to make this year the deficit cuts that had not been achieved last year. He said that the government intended to submit the draft budget to Brussels on Friday.

Once the commission has issued an opinion on the draft, the document is to be discussed at a future meeting of euro-zone finance ministers.

Normally a state budget is submitted to parliament by mid-October, after being reviewed by commission officials. This year, however, the process has been delayed by the fact that a general election took place in October and that it took more than a month for a stable government to emerge.