Nowadays Portugal is full of optimistic news that
is spreading throughout society.
It is true we’ve had economic growth, reduced
the deficit and unemployment is decreasing. Yet, this stage is rooted more on
the current conjunctural economy.
If we observe an economic miracle is most of
all due to tourism. The restore of historic town centres is also a consequence
of tourism revival and local housing. Today, about one third of beds for
tourists is linked to local housing. How was that possible? New platforms in
the internet were developed that approach people, new rental laws were
implemented, and finally, Portugal had a secretary of state for tourism –
Adolfo Mesquita Nunes, who took some important measures to uncomplicate
business. Unfortunately, when some businesses have success Socialist goverments
increase taxes and complicate them with bureaucracy. When economic difficulties
or bankruptcy arise, Socialism creates state subsidies to assist the companies
which had been previously destroyed.
The reforms that are spoken of, or at least the
foundations for it, haven’t been created, and this allows us to look into the
future with some apprehension - a structural growth would give us much more
guarantees.
Most of the portuguese prefer to be distracted
by trivialities: football, gossips, and being deceived by the sympathetic words
of some supposed heralds of truth.
Football is over, but for those who don’t
appreciate football commentators, I have to remind we're now going to have endless speculation about
market transfers.
Gossip will continue to be part of our daily
lives. It is part of human nature. The most recent and eye-catching for our
media is finding out if Madonna will come to live in Portugal - after all
Portugal is trendy, as the exponential growth of our tourism has shown.
And now that we are approaching the so-called
"silly season" we should have at least some points of interest so
that we can “recharge our batteries” on vacation.
Local elections will take place – there’s the likelihhod
of the right-wing parties downfall on the one hand and the remarkability of
some individualities in charge of some municipalities without partisan support
on the other.
It should also be singled out the general
strike in the civil service was convenient for all involved. The unions gave a
sign of life, the Communists, at least in appearance, demonstrated some autonomy
in relation to the Socialist party, which also benefited because the attitude
and language on that day showed some restraint.
Finally, in international affairs, the country
has shown some indifference with regard to the conditions of the portuguese residing
in Venezuela, and the government in particular, seems to remember the refugee situation
only from time to time.
Miguel Verde - Senior Consultant, Professor of
International Relations
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