A Future That Works

A Future That Works
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Sunday 21 August 2011

Unity needed more than ever

Yet another European socialist party has bitten the dust as Portuguese voters punished the Government of Prime Minister Pedro Socrates for the country’s economic crisis, writes Tom Gill. You can visit Tom's blog at http://revoltingeurope.wordpress.com/

13 comments:

  1. The country is now in the hands of the right-wing PSD – which garnered 38.6 percent, resulting in 105 seats in the 230-seat national parliament – and the smaller right wing People’s Party (CDS-PP) – which gained 12% of the vote.
    The three largest parties agreed to demands by the EU, IMF and the European Central Bank that ahead of the election they sign up to the €78 billion EU-IMF bail-out programme – and with it massive cuts to health, education and pensions in a country with faltering growth and 11% percent unemployment.

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  2. So the Portuguese were not given a great deal of choice.
    No surprise then that the biggest winner of the night was the party of abstention: those who did not vote climbed to 41.1%, an historic high.
    Voters did in fact have an alternative in the shape of an alliance between the Communists and Green Party in the CDU, and the Left Bloc, comprising , ex-maoists, Trotskyites and ‘eurocommunists’ These Left parties maintain that the demands of the EU-ECB-IMF ‘troika’ is an unacceptable intervention in the affairs of a sovereign state. And both opposed the bail-out and the devastating strings that are attached.

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  3. However, the CDU, barely saw an increase on the last election, from 7.89 to 7.9 percent, giving it just 16 seats, while the Left Bloc saw its support fall to 5.2 percent from its previous high of 9.85, giving it eight seats.
    Voters lost faith in the Left Bloc, which had been on an upward trend since it was founded 12 years ago, was punished for being too close to the Socialists at times, according to some pundits.

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  4. The PCP, in a clear sign of relief that it had outperformed its rival, Left Bloc, was upbeat, although it only gained one MP. It’s failure to make any further gains was blamed on the media for “silencing” and “disregarding” its message, and “the lies and dissimulation of all those who, up to the very last moment of the electoral campaign, never disclosed their true programs and political intentions”.

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  5. PCP leader Jerónimo de Sousa says his CDU coalition is determined to continue arguing inside and outside parliament for an immediate “renegotiation” of the national public debt as “the only real alternative that can avoid irreparably jeopardizing for many decades to come, the country’s future, its sovereignty and any prospect for its development”.

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  6. A recent Bank of Portugal report warned of “particularly severe” economic hardship over the next two years with an “unprecedented” drop in family income. The Troika’s plan will see a contraction of 4% in GDP and a 5.4% cut in purchasing power in 2011/12 . Already one in five Portuguese can’t keep up payments on their mortgages.

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  7. Many economists believe further austerity will make it harder for the country to service its debts and this makes it more likely that there will be a sovereign debt default. Portugal’s credit rating is the second worst in Europe after Greece.

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  8. Upon his victory, PSD leader Pedro Passos Coelho, immediately moved to assure markets. “We will do everything possible to honor the agreement established between the Portuguese state, the EU and the IMF to regain the confidence of markets,” he said.

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  9. The election was called in March when premier Sócrates resigned after failing to get his own budget cuts through parliament. Coelho and his party opposed the measures at the time because the spending cuts were not deep enough.
    Portugal is torn between resistance and resignation. A general strike in November bought as many as three million workers out onto the streets. 300,000 mostly young people descended on Lisbon’s Rossio square on March 12 in an example that inspired the movement of ‘indignados’ two months later in Spain.

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  10. The Socialist’s share of the vote fell to 28.1%. Apart from a brief period under the PSD then led by Jose Manuel Barroso, now the president of the European Commission, and his successor, Pedro Santana Lopes, from 2002-05, the Socialists have been in power since 1995.

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  11. The loss of Portugal represents yet another blow to European social democracy, which is at its lowest ebb for decades. The right continues its march across Europe in the wake of the economic crisis stemming from the meltdown in financial markets in 2008. Socialists are now only in government in Austria, Cyprus, Greece, Slovenia and Spain. Madrid is on course for a right turn next year, after a humiliating defeat of in local elections last month.

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  12. Let's Work Together - Canned Heat

    Together we'll stand Divided we'll fall …..Every boy, every girl and man…. make life worthwhile…. Let's make this world of ours a good place to stand and work together Come on, come on let’s work together…. Every boy, girl, woman and man.

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  13. Unity in Action

    Brendan Barber says that the trade union movement is going to step up the campaign against cuts. TUC leaders will meet in October to plan details of a second phase of campaigning to mobilise the public to force the Tory/Liberal coalition government to ‘‘put the brake on austerity’’ and put ‘‘serious pressure’’ on the government to deliver ‘‘an economic alternative’’.

    Brendan Barber has also said the government was starting to ‘‘lose its central arguments on the economy’’ because the country faces the ‘‘real prospect" of a double-dip recession. A TUC study warns that a ‘‘typical middle Britain’’ family will suffer a living standards gap of £4,600 by April 2013 as a direct results of measures introduced by the coalition and showing highest earners ‘‘fare the best’’, undermining the government's claim of us ‘‘all being in this together’’.

    Scrapping the 50p tax rate shows just how out of touch the coalition government is with the economy needs of ordinary people. The unions hope to build an alliance with communities and use digital campaign tools to rally people against government cuts. Also another demonstration similar to the one staged in London may be on the cards. The TUC is preparing to take a key role in coordinating strike action.

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