I received this
very impressive video, allegedly produced by Portugiese Conservatives with the aim of having it broadcast in Germany. Frankly, I was taken by the video. Thus, I sent it to a friend of Portugiese origin (now living in Canada) and asked him for his comments, which are below. It seems to me that parallels can be drawn between Portugal and Greece.
Comments by a Portugiese
Well, I think we have a case here not of propaganda but of
how the truth and the facts are displayed and juxtaposed. Perhaps some
comparison between Portugal and Greece would be a good framework to depart.
Both countries did advance upon EU accession and the flood
of funds from Brussels, living standards rising even faster once the Euro was
adopted. But, I recall long before the crisis seeing comparative statistics
where Portugal (with Greece trailing not far behind) had the highest share of
public sector weight in the then EU with Ireland having the least. This weight
factor was not just in terms of gross costs but the actual total number of
employees in the public sector. In a 12-month calendar year, the law stipulated
that all employees (public and private sector) were paid 14 salaries, 1 extra
at Christmas and 1 in the middle of the summer. The social umbrella was
complete and pretty comprehensive, meaning that it was prone to abuse.
Like Greece, there are numerous incidents of
"pensions" being paid to spinster daughters, who never worked a
day in their lives, when the parents passed away. Undoubtedly, under a social
umbrella welfare system provisions need to be made for those in need and it is
not in the 9 or ten thousand such cases that the system was weighted down. More
to the point is the "nomenklatura" in Government irrespective of the party
in power since the 1974 revolution. Let's say that you Klaus are the
Sub-Secretary in the Ministry of Public Works. You draw a salary for your
actual position, you are given a good German car with a uniformed chauffeur who
gets paid overtime because he is on duty 24/7 not just to drive you on official
functions but also your wife and children. You have a very well appointed
restaurant in the ministry costing anywhere from 1/2 to 1/3 of the cost in a
normal restaurant. And, of course, you have a government pension. Now, you are
appointed "Delegado do Estado" (Representative of the State) in e.g.
the boards of the electricity or ports or highway state companies or even more
such companies, something that is not uncommon. You not only draw additional
salaries for these 3-4 year "temporary" posts, which may consume a
maximum of 2-3 hours per week of meetings, but you also accrue additional
pensions from each of those posts. Since many of these posts are sourced by the
party in power from the ranks of MPs elected (called
"Deputados"), if reelected for a successive 4-year term, i.e. 2 terms
as an MP, and subsequently lose in a third election, you now have a pension for
life that rises yearly pursuant to inflation.
To use a personal example, my Father was a Chemical Engineer
and head of the water company. Pursuant to statutory requirement he
retired with a very good pension at 65. No sooner did he retire when he was
asked by the Government to sit in the board of a "mixed capital
corporation" where the 51% was private. So he did and there being an
agreeable meeting of the minds over the years, he resigned from that Board of
his own accord at age 83 on the grounds that "he felt a bit tired".
Long preceded by my Mother, by the time he passed away at age 90 -- actually 1
month after he turned 90 -- his pension was manifold what he had ever earned in
active service. While my sister that followed me to Canada, her husband, my
wife and I would shake our heads at this situation, which my brother-in-law
called a "Disneyland situation", both my Father and my only other
sister who never left Portugal, where she and her husband work for the Ministry
of Education, saw nothing wrong with the system. What happened in the case of
my Father is actually a "minute" situation -- where he actually
worked half-days every day for that Board since I read many of his reports and
commented on them -- compared to some of the scandals that only became
seriously revealed upon the onset of the crisis.
In the private sector, agriculture almost disappeared under
the so-called "EU standards". So, our oranges that taste and smell
phenomenally have spots in them and may not be so golden as Florida's or
California's. The farmer gets paid for not farming and not harvesting. Wine,
brandy, Port, Madeira, liqueurs and eau-de-vie survive nicely and represent
nice domestic and export revenues. However, go to any supermarket and it is
flooded with the same products from the rest of Europe plus South Africa and
South America at competitive prices. The textile sector, once vibrant and very
good, is gone or at best haute couture "boutique-like". The shoe
manufacturing sector, since it is a real brand quality name, continues to
flourish but is a pale shadow of what it once was, especially in exports.
Fisheries, the inseparable sea and the Portuguese of time immemorial, cannot
compete with the massive industrialisation of the sector by the Norwegians and
the Spanish. Go to any supermarket to buy the indispensable dry salted cod and
it is "Norwegian", even though all cod are fished off the shores of
Newfoundland since the 15th century.
Industry and manufacturing in general and the financial
sector may be traded in the Lisbon and Porto bourses but are controlled and
back in the hands of the
few families that owned them during the decades of Salazar's dictatorship. It
is almost as though the 1974 revolution never took place. As for the banks, who
would seize properties for mortgage arrears, these were still accounted as "live
assets" in the balance sheet until very recently when Ireland and,
specially Spain, started auctioning such properties. The numbers are staggering
all over Portugal, something like 440 homes delivered by hard-pressed owners,
who are no longer able to pay their monthly mortgage installments or
seized by the banks on a
daily
basis. And in the tourist sector, where Portugal, specifically the Algarve, has
enormous potential as well as a good tourist infrastructure, the power of the
Euro has made it fashionable for the Portuguese themselves
not to
enjoy vacations in Portugal but in exotic locales. TAP, the national airline is
"broke" beyond repair and negotiations of a takeover by Q'Atar seem
to have come to a standstill. It no longer flies to Toronto, in a country where
one million Portuguese reside, of which 500,000 are domiciled in the general
Toronto area and vicinity. But, go to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic and
you will see a posh TAP counter in the airport. Etc.
The above -- with or without the Troika -- has not changed
since the Crisis. What has changed is that the 13th & 14th salaries are now
gone, statutory age has been increased from 65 to 67 years of age and
contributory pensions will be reduced for
anyone receiving a pension in excess of Euro 500 per month. What is also
changed is the scandal of the current PM -- beloved by the Troika -- telling
the educated youth of the country to emigrate, an advice that tens of thousands
have already taken to heart and acted upon such that when standing at a certain
vegetable counter in a large and popular Portuguese supermarket in my
neighbourhood I once overheard two youngsters talking to each other in elevated
and cultivated Portuguese
while cleaning and stacking lettuce and cabbage.
They are most probably illegal migrants in Canada, but they are most certainly
graduates of the classical universities of either Lisbon or Coimbra.
The population in general has taken to blaming Germany
and/or Northern EU, but mainly Germany, for their woes, an attitude that has
not changed but has become exacerbated by the apparent disregard of the Troika
for the excesses of the "nomenklatura" at the expense of the rest of
the population. Austerity measures are popularly regarded as applying to most
and not the minority. Incidentally, in one of my recent posts I had closed it
with the quotation that "The law exists to protect our friends, to
persecute our enemies and to be applied to its fullest extent on those that are
ignorant". The author of that quote is Paulo Portas, the NO. 2 person in
the current Portuguese government.
So far, all demonstrations are indeed peaceful with none of
the drama we see on TV when it comes to Greece and/or Spain. For how long more,
I don't know and let us not forget the armed forces, so far professional,
disciplined and in the barracks. They did it before in 1928 putting Salazar in
power and again in 1974 toppling the Salazar regime and they can certainly do
it again.
A reader by the German-sounding name of Sebastian Schroeder who apparently lives in Patras wrote an extensive comment (reproduced at the bottom of this post) essentially arguing that Germany has made so many unanswered moves so far that it is asking quite a bit to (again) demand of Germany a move (again).
I suppose a marriage counsellor who interviews husband/wife separately comes away from each conversation with the feeling that he has just heard the full truth. Unfortunately, the two truths don't match one another. If he cannot find common ground between the parties, the marriage will fall apart at great cost to both.
Greece has accomplished a lot of positive things, particularly of late. I hasten to add that Greece didn't have much of a choice because otherwise the whole problem would have blown-up in its face.
Germany, too - albeit mostly at the last minute - has done quite a few positive things (if prolonging bankruptcy by making new loans is considered a positive thing). I hasten to add that Germany didn't have much of a choice because otherwise the whole problem would have blown-up in its face.
Regrettably, there are no provisions to dissolve the German/Greek Euro-marriage. So unless both parties want to take chances that the whole problem really blows-up into everybody's faces, they might want to start looking for a counsellor, a mediator or whatever else is adequate to help find common ground in two opposing - but possibly equally right! - positions.
I suppose it wouldn't be difficult to fill a room with competent people who can argue that Greece is right. Neither would it be difficult to fill a room with competent people who can argue that Germany is right. The sad truth is --- the graveyards of the world are full of people who were right!
Europeans can be quite arrogant when it comes to appraising Americans. In recent times, sophisticated Europeans have expressed dismay over the fact that the two large parties in America cannot find common ground when the future of the country is at stake. Well, Europeans would have the chance to, for once, show Americans how mature they really are by demonstrating amongst each other a behavior which the two large American parties have not yet been able to demonstrate.
So, Europeans, speak up now and show that you are worth your salt, or forever keep your peace!
Letter to the Ekathimerini by Sebastian Schroeder, Patras
Lets see some German/EU Moves and the Greek reactions:
1. Mr Roesler came down 2-3 years ago and offered Greece assistance with the funding of a KfW like institute to support Greek small and medium size companies. The Greek media reaction was to call him a German-Japanese Nazi, the Greek political reaction was non existent.
2. Mr. Reichenbach was sent down to help Greece on more effective absorption of EU funds. The Greek media reaction was to call him Gauleiter, Anarchists have threatend him and his family and burned his car even in Berlin.
3. Germany has offered to support the renewal of the Greek tax system with 180 tax specialists that would have worked for free down here. Greek reaction was negative again while money kept flowing out of the country.
4. Mr. Fuchtel was sent down to establish grassroots connections between German and Greek communities. Media welcomed him with Nazi comments and Greek polticians tried to play smart ass on him.
5. The EU offered Greece already 4 years ago support to overhaul the Asylum System and to establish detention center. Reaction = Zero until GD showed up.
6. The EU supported Greece with money to establish a nationwide cataster. Result is known, money is gone.
7. Mrs. Lagarde offered a nice list... result is known.
All of the above are moves from Germany and the EU that were badly rejected by Greek polticians and also by parts of the Greek population.
In Greece everybody thinks the world is turning around Greece and that everybody is just waiting for the Greek Vouli and money will flow. The decision in the Vouli though is just a first step that will be followed by necessary democratic (parliament) approvals in the other countries.
Don't overestimate also the power of Merkel and the importance of Greece for the next election campaign. Germany has plenty of challenges within the country that could even bring down Merkel's anyway shaky CDU/FDP coalition before next fall.
From all European leaders Mrs. Merkel is within her country most likely the most restricted, first of all constitionally and secondly due to her weak coalition partner. In the outside media though she is seen as a leader that decides everything on her own. Something is not fitting!