But according to the Portuguese Prime Minister, disaster was averted at the 11th hour when the delegation from Lisbon came up with a solution to overcome the impasse.


Speaking on Sunday evening, Pedro Passos Coelho revealed to reporters that Portugal might just have saved the day during arduous Greece-EU talks.


“I must say that, curiously, the solution which ended up unblocking the final problem that remained unsolved with regards to the privatisation fund, originated from an idea which I myself suggested”, the Portuguese Prime Minister told a surprised audience.
“This means, that as a matter of fact, we acted in a way that helped to unblock the problem”, Passos Coelho said at a press conference at the end of the eurozone summit.


He reiterated this point by stressing once more that “it was precisely an idea which I tabled which ended up being used by negotiators with the Greek Prime Minister.”


But with Pedro Passos Coelho still revelling from what he described as a decisive intervention, social media was quick to satirise his comments.


Following the creation of the hashtag #PorAcasoFoiIdeia Minha loosely translated as “a matter of fact it was my idea”, tweets about the Portuguese Prime Minister quickly became the most popular trend on Twitter.


Pedro Passos Coelho became the target of a series of tweets, with comments like “Approving unconstitutional budgets? It was my idea”, “The cure for Aids? You haven’t got one yet? When you do, it was my idea” and also reference was made to the arrest and jailing of former Socialist Prime Minister José Sócrates, “Operation Marquês? It was my idea.”


Other references such as the Portuguese 25 April Revolution, the Moon landing and September 11 were other posts which flooded Twitter and Facebook the past week and sarcastically attributed to the Portuguese Prime Minister.