PORTUGAL: THE CARNATIONS ARE BLOOMING AGAIN

By Mario Soares and - - Reprint | | Print |

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LISBON, Mar 1 2005 (IPS) - When the Portuguese Socialist Party and its leader, Jose Socrates, take office on March 12, they will assume a tremendous burden of responsibilities.The country\’s crisis is profound, has many different ramifications, and cannot be resolved magically by a fortunate election, writes Mario Soares, former president of Portugal. I expect that the new prime minister will take advantage of his first days in office to make a clear break with the past, giving clear signs that he grasps the hopes and expectations of the voters. He must make it understood in word and deed that Portugal will be ruled by the government selected by popular vote and backed by the majority of the Assembly of the Republic — and not by the main economic powers or corporations or lobbies which seek only to use the government for their own ends.

When the Portuguese Socialist Party and its leader, Jose Socrates, take office on March 12, they will assume a tremendous burden of responsibilities.

It is true that they won by an absolute majority (winning 45.05 percent of the votes, 121 out of 230 deputies) which will mean relative peace in parliament for the four-year duration of their term.

On February 20, a majority of voters very consciously voted for the socialists because they saw that if they didn’t, Portugal would be risk becoming ungovernable. At the same time the other parties of the left won an unexpected victory, with the Portuguese Communist Party jumping from 6.9 to 7.57 percent share, winning 14 deputies. The Left Bloc rose from 2.7 to 6.38 percent, winning 8 deputies. Overall, the Portuguese left won 59 percent of the votes and almost two-thirds of the deputies, while the Social Democratic Party and the Popular Party, the two rightist groups that were in the government, which won 48.8 percent of votes in 2002, saw their share fall to 36 percent.

But despite this clear political shift, I do not think that the results of the February elections mean only a rejection of the recent past. More than that, it is a clear endorsement of broad change in governmental politics which can be seen in the expectations that people have of Jose Socrates:

– The restoration of social policies designed to address the ever widening inequality among the Portuguese people. Statistics show that of all EU countries, Portugal had the highest level of social inequality and the lowest minimum and medium salaries until 1 May, when membership was expanded from 15 to 25 countries.

– A concerted battle against unemployment. In the last four years the number of jobless has jumped by 150,000, from 4.8 to 7.3 percent of the economically active population.

-A return to the line of development of the Carnation Revolution (25 April 1974) that brought significant benefits to the average Portuguese citizens which they have not forgotten. The economy is stagnant: the 2004 GDP was the same as that of 2001. The annual report of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, comprised of the 30 most developed nations) gave Portugal very poor marks: its productivity is the lowest in the EU; there is a lack of entrepreneurial innovation and dynamism; education and professional training are unsatisfactory; public funds are misused, there is wasteful spending and little to show for it.

This is why I believe that the government of Socrates has taken on enormous responsibilities. The country’s crisis is profound, has many different ramifications, and cannot be resolved magically by a fortunate election. I think that as soon as it is possible, the new government should present the people with a precise assessment of the state of the nation and the mistakes committed by the governments that have held power since 2002, headed by Durao Barroso, Santana Lopes, and Portas, who are most responsible for the current situation.

I expect that the new prime minister will take advantage of his first days in office to make a clear break with the past, giving clear signs that he grasps the hopes and expectations of the voters.

In neighbouring Spain, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero kept his campaign promise to withdraw his country’s troops from Iraq, winning with this simple gesture the confidence of the Spanish public.

Socrates does not have troops to withdraw from Iraq. But he must make it understood in word and deed that Portugal will be ruled by the government selected by popular vote and backed by the majority of the Assembly of the Republic — and not by the main economic powers or corporations or lobbies which seek only to use the government for their own ends. Portugal is a member of the European Union and must respect its common laws. But the Portuguese state has not abdicated the right to defend its strategic interests and there is no reason it should bow to directives pronounced by US or European multinationals. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)