Dick Dasterdly

So it seems as an anti EU coalition is banned from taking its rightful place in power in order to protect a Brussels backed govt.

President BANS Anti-Euro Government From Power In Portugal

Red Eric

Patience, Comrade

GeniB

Like many things these days ,this article is full of holes.and misinformation..Coelho got the most votes in this last election. Costa took exception to this having anticipated a clear run for the socialists. He therefor refused to form a coalition stating that he would form a 'bloc' with the communists and other parties to vote him down. Costa is the unjust and anti democratic one here. I totally agree with the President.This is not the time to start making huge waves in a country thats finally found it's feet again after the financial crisis and the Troika.

Ingles

Per DAY 25.000.000.00€'s is added to PT's Debt ?

Red Eric

Como???

macliam

So how does that work? A centre-right coalition fails to get a majority, but a broad-left coalition succeeds, then a centre-right President decides he can't allow the majority coalition to form a government.

Why bother to have an election? Just let the President decide, after all, Portugal existed that way for most of the last century

EMR

A coalition made up of two far left parties with the political and economic sense that is even outside of that of the greek socialists.
Parties committed to seeing Portugal exit the EU, Nato and return to the escudo.
Parties whose true price for supporting the socialists we have yet discover.

GeniB

I think it was a wise decision .As actually noone voted for either the right to have a clear mandate OR the left. How does the the 'ganging up' of left leaning parties become Democratic? As EMR says we have no idea what they are planning/thinking. as the electorate weren't party to this decision. It's simple making political points and not putting the country first. How stupid are these people? MONEY and confidence rules the world,not their rhetoric and posturing. We may not like it,but we have all just experienced the truth of it the hard way. If the money people think it's going wrong they downgrade Portugal again and again. We are just about holding our own right now (despite Ingles quote on debt, Who ISN'T in debt right now? )It's about confidence in us.'Fiddling while Rome burns ' comes to mind when you see the shenanigans going on in Parliament. A coalition of left and right is the way to go.Hate it if you will but the country should come first. Personally .I see zero point in Politicians these days.The civil Servants run the country regardless. Tackle that group and then appoint leaders as and when.I can see that idea going down like a lead balloon though.

Red Eric

It's quite simple really, Geni. Post-election coalitions have been very common in Portugal's history - it's the way parliamentary majority is achieved. Without a majority a government is vulnerable - or, as possibly in this case, quite simply unviable.

ANY parliamentary alliances which lead to agreement enough between a majority of the members that a stable government can be formed are valid and democratic, in exactly the way that the PSD and CDS/PP formed a majority government after the 2011 elections. Just because one or other of them (or in this case both combined) got more votes than any other single party doesn't automatically guarantee that they can form a stable government. Nor does standing as a ready-made coalition give them any more legitimacy to form a government than a coalition or agreement formed post-election.

In this case, I think the President probably did do the right thing in initially re-appointing Passos Coelho, if only for the sake of following the traditional pattern. However, he should have limited himself to that and not made his tirade against the opposition parties, in which he overstepped the boundary of his duties as President. His job is to uphold the Constitution, not make judgements or pronouncements about the manifestos and programmes of the political parties.

Ooooh no, I can't agree with you there. To me, that really would be the death of democracy.

The one thing that is manifestly clear from this election is that the Portuguese people have voted for change. And the parties of the left have responded to that in a most unexpected way, by uniting in a manner that hasn't been seen in 40 years of democracy. That's quite an achievement, given the rough times the country's been through in the past, including two previous interventions by the IMF. But it's taken the past four years and an overdose of extreme neoliberalism to dismantle the barriers between the Communists and the Socialists enough that they and the BE can see a possibility of reaching agreement on how the country can be governed, for the benefit of the majority of the people. There is, of course, more to running a country than just balancing the books, though Costa has pledged to honour all of Portugal's commitments on that front.

Red Eric

Actually, it looks likely that if discussions reach a successful conclusion there will be no coalition as such. The Bloco and PCP have made public that they're not interested in seats in government but that they are willing to work with the PS in order to ensure that their programme isn't sunk by the PSD - CDS/PP. They would also be involved in developing policy in areas of common agreement.

What both the Bloco Esquerda and the PCP want is to open up debate about the euro, not (even if they had a majority themselves), simply withdraw from it immediately. The PCP advocate commissioning a study and making preparations for an exit, arguing that sooner or later Portugal will, one way or another, be on the way out. The Bloco are more in favour of discussions with Eurozone partners aimed at improving the arrangements than out-and-out withdrawal but they wouldn't rule the latter out if (as BE spokesperson Catarina Martins puts it), it comes to a choice between dignity and the euro.

Neither party wants to exit the EU but both are critical of the manner in which it currently operates in some areas.

Both are critical of NATO.

The price is that the Socialists modify certain points of disagreement from their election manifesto. I'll give you a couple of examples of points under discussion - no reduction to SS contributions (as proposed by PS), convergence on raising of minimum salary, agreement on not facilitating or "flexibilising" public sector dismissals. And that the PS stick to key manifesto pledges such as adoption by homosexual couples, revoking alterations to the laws on abortion and the reduction of VAT on restaurant meals (motions for the first two of those plus the restoration of two of the four public holidays removed in 2011 have already been advanced as of yesterday).

Costa has been very clear on two points : firstly he will not bring down the existing government unless he has a viable alternative and secondly any alternative will respect all of Portugal's international commitments. Hinting darkly at a hidden price to pay for clear, honest and open co-operation is pure and simple scaremongering.

EMR

AS some of us have been saying for some time, the end result will be little or no change in the way Portugal is governed.The premise put forward by the original poster in this thread was just typical of the anti Eu views voiced by a part of the UK media having no basis in fact.

Red Eric

Well you've been saying that the end result will be little or no change. I don't recall anybody else saying that.

I very firmly believe that a Socialist government with backing from BE and PCP and PEV would be vastly different. And the fact that The Mummy saw fit to loose a broadside against the other parties suggests he can also spot the difference. In fact, your own comments regarding those parties suggests you can, too

Very popular idea at the moment, this "elections make no difference", particularly among the righties. It's an extension of TINA. Total tosh, though - of course they do, while we still have plurality in the political system (which is the very reason I'm against a centre bloc coalition).

EMR

None of the Portuguese I have been speaking to in the lasr two weeks believes anything of any significance will change.
I think that they know far more about their country and how things work than any expat.

Ingles

[QUOTE=EMR;11780656]None of the Portuguese I have been speaking to in the lasr two weeks believes anything of any significance will change.I think that they know far more about their country and how things work than any expat.

Note :- PSD - CDS-PP Coalition have NOT got a Parliamentary Majority !There fore every time they wish to push forward & try to pass thru the chamber a contentious piece off legislation ,they are going to have to negotiate with the so called "left block"


Everything changes

EMR

[QUOTE=Ingles;11780748] Given that the socialists have no significant policies that if they were in power would change the status quo then providing the parties of the right do not try to put forward more tax increases and more austerity then the socilaists will not block them.
The far left can do what it likes without the socialists they are impotent.