Political clarity in Portugal

Portugal goes to bed tonight with a clear mind: the President has decided that the current Prime Minister and his coalition government will remain in power and will have a chance to complete their mandate.

My hope is that the PM and the leader of the junior party in the coalition have learned one or two governance lessons and become more responsive to political dialogue with others, including the key opposition party – the Socialists – and business and labour leaders. 

Portugal loves political confusion

Yesterday, the Portuguese Finance Minister left the government. That was no big surprise, in the end, as many had expected that decision for quite a bit of time. 

But today we got the real surprise: the Foreign Minister, Paulo Portas, who is also the leader of the junior party in the coalition government, called it quits. The destabilising impact of his decision is enormous. I do not expect the current government to survive such blow. 

Actually, Portas seems to have the same opinion. By quitting now he is getting ready to come back in late September, in alliance with the Socialist Party. So, he is playing for his political continuity. 

The problem is that all this has a very deep impact on Portugal’s access to the international financial markets. Without proper access there will be no money to bridge the public finances gap. That means plenty of hard times ahead. But in party politics that’s not important. What is really critical is for the political leaders to have access to power and everything that comes with it. They are no statesmen. They are, like you and me, just trying to make a nice living out of bad politics and the country’s ruin. 

It’s a matter of choice.