On 18 October 2011 Gaspar told Portugal's main TV channel RTP1 that the wage cuts imposed on civil servants the previous week in the presentation of the State Budget for 2012 were the only way to avoid a much more painful and complex policy of mass firing of civil servants.
On 1 July 2013, he resigned and was replaced by Maria Luís Albuquerque, who had been Secretary of State of Treasury under him [REF].