Portugese government backs down following austerity protests

[PaddyJoe]

Protests don't appear to be a waste of time in Portugal, at least

The centre-right government in Portugal has agreed to look for alternatives to a social security tax rise a week after huge anti-austerity street protests.

Previously, it had planned to raise contributions next year from 11% to 18%, to meet the conditions of Portugal's international bailout

Last Saturday, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Lisbon and other Portuguese cities.

President Cavaco Silva called the meeting of his state council amid concern that Portugal's main trump card in the eyes of foreign investors, its cross-party consensus on austerity, was in tatters, the BBC's Alison Roberts reports from Lisbon.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19684712

[fluffybiscuits]

Would that happen here? Only when our backs are to the wall....

[Griska]

Protests don't appear to be a waste of time in Portugal, at least


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19684712

No, they know how to protest.
Good on them.

We go for the patronising pat on the back from the troika approach.

[Apjp]

Irish people don't want to protest. They want a pint, a plane or a pat as aforementioned. It's a fecking kick up the arse they want!

[C. Flower]

Protests don't appear to be a waste of time in Portugal, at least


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19684712

Same budget as ours ?

The social security contribution rise seems designed to gut out more jobs: that doesn't bother Joan Burton though.

[PaddyJoe]

Same budget as ours ?

The social security contribution rise seems designed to gut out more jobs: that doesn't bother Joan Burton though.

Very comparable situation. Notice how "Portugal's main trump card in the eyes of foreign investors...is a cross-party consensus on austerity"
Keaveny rattled the cage a couple of weeks ago here on that 'cross-party consensus on austerity' stuff and all hell broke loose with dire tidings from the Indo that the IMF were ringing up Enda to find out what was going on.
Meanwhile Portugal has quietly been given an extra year to balance the budget

[MPB]

Irish people don,t bother with futile protest, they just refuse to pay the tax.

All this nonsense about, lets be like the Greeks and the Portuguese.

Neither the Greeks or the Portuguese have sorted their problems.

Greek people have let a tax be collected by adding it to their energy supply.

The Irish govt are about to find out that only fair taxes can be collected and that coercion is a big mistake.

[Ephilant]

Greek people have let a tax be collected by adding it to their energy supply.

Of course, part 2 of that story is that right now the PPO (our version of ESB) has been landed with over 2 billion € worth of unpaid bills because of the ATTEMPT to collect tax that way and the refusal of people to pay.
Not only that, but individual people here went to the Supreme Court with this and got a double verdict on the practice
- it is illegal for any government in Greece to disconnect people from their power supply for non payment of parts of their power bill that are not related to power supply
- it will be, from January 1st 2013, illegal for any government to collect taxes in this way any longer. This ruling odes not just apply to PPO bills, but ALL utility bills.

And just in case you missed it in the international press, the world-wide consensus on Greece is that we are the MASTERS of not paying tax. Fair tax or otherwise...

[Greengoddess]

*
Swoboda: "The Portuguese government proves that austerity alone is not the way to go"
*
Following mass protests across the country the Portuguese government announced the withdrawal of a planned increase of worker's social security contributions from 11% to 18% which would have resulted in a significant decrease in salaries. Prime Minister Coelho is meeting trade unions and employers today to discuss alternative measures.
*
Hannes Swoboda, S&D Group President in the European Parliament, welcomed the government's decision not to follow through with the planned contributions increase:
*
"It is a reasonable step by the Portuguese government to adapt the measures.
*
"This confirms the argument of the S&D Group, that austerity measures alone are not sustainable as they mainly affect those who are already vulnerable."
*
He continued to speak about the strain austerity measures put on citizens:
*
"There are limits to the social burden that can be put on people. The Portuguese government's withdrawal of the announced measure is a clear signal that the S&D position is right.
*
"Austerity measures carry economic as well as social consequences that must be taken into account and adjusted to people's needs."
*

[fluffybiscuits]

Irish people don't want to protest. They want a pint, a plane or a pat as aforementioned. It's a fecking kick up the arse they want! Just 7 more months and getting out of here.

You said it for me and Im going blue in the face saying it. Its because we are so apathetic that we cant be arsed fighting for something unless it benefits us individually. At least in Portugal they have proved that there is something to be gained from protesting. We may not make a difference here but we still will get our point across.

[PaddyJoe]

The Troika ain't going to be too happy with Portugal.

Meanwhile, Portuguese business daily Diário Económico reports that the Portuguese government is this week going to tell the EU/IMF/ECB Troika that it will miss the EU-mandated deficit target of 5% of GDP for this year. Open Europe’s Raoul Ruparel is quoted by the Telegraph as saying that, despite eurozone leaders stating the opposite, “Portugal has similar structural flaws and the same overvalued currency [as Greece].”

http://www.openeurope.org.uk/Article?id=9558

[Greengoddess]

The Troika ain't going to be too happy with Portugal.

http://www.openeurope.org.uk/Article?id=9558

What is wrong with our negoatiators? At this point there are no benign explanations. There should be civil society reps on the team. It would alter the behaviour of those involved at once. No doubt this would be portrayed as unthinkable or eccentric.

[PaddyJoe]

Looks like the Portugese Constitutional Court has ruled today that government public service salary and pension cuts as well as health levies and unemployment payment reductions are illegal.
Oh dear.

[PaddyJoe]

Another spanner in the works:

Portugal's Constitutional Court has ruled several key articles of the 2013 state budget unconstitutional.It rejected four out of nine contested austerity measures from the budget.
It will deprive the state of some 1.5bn euros (£1.3bn) in savings the government had said were necessary to meet the terms of a eurozone bailout.
Portugal's President Anibal Cavaco Silva said before the announcement that he did not believe the court ruling should mean a change of government.
He said a vote in parliament on Wednesday, on a no-confidence motion tabled by the Socialists, had "re-legitimised" the government.
The government has called an extraordinary cabinet meeting for Saturday.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22048169

[Apjp]

Maybe we should import their judiciary, We could do with an independent court system capable of deciding against social vandalism by the elites.