As much as we
distrust them, politicians are keeping us entertained and often on the edge of
our seats. The main criticism is that some of the performances are just so bizarre you
couldn’t make them up.
In Portugal, the current prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho and his
predecessor José Sócrates have been indulging in a slanging match reminiscent
of a Punch and Judy show.
For those who
have missed recent episodes, Passos Coelho has been squirming his way out of
criticisms that he failed to declare a series of tax debts.
“I’m not a
perfect citizen, I have my imperfections,” the prime minister admitted amid
cries for his resignation,
But hang on,
others have imperfections too!
“I never used my
position as prime minister to hide differential treatment from any citizens, or
to enrich myself, make pay-offs or to live beyond my means,” Passos Coelho
explained with a twinkle in his eye.
Retaliating from his prison cell where he has
been languishing while investigations continue into allegations of corruption,
tax fraud and money laundering, Sócrates castigated Passos Coelho for making “a
cowardly personal attack.” He accused the prime minister of “moral depravity.”
With men like
this in charge, it is little wonder that critics at home and abroad have viewed
Portugal’s economic performance in recent years as wonky if not farcical.
On the bigger
stage, European unity appears to be careering towards the abyss once again
despite the interim agreement reached during last month’s Greek melodrama in
Brussels.
As you will
recall, the eurozone stepped back from the brink by reaching a compromise deal
in which Greece was given a four-month extension to its bailout package. In
return, Greece agreed to specify the economic reforms it will undertake, rather
than copping out of austerity altogether as Tsipras had promised his
electorate.
It is still open
to question whether Tsipras was reneging on his pledge to Greek voters or
trying to tactically outsmart the Troika. Perhaps to deftly deflect such
questions domestically, he accused the governments of Portugal and Spain of conspiring
to topple his radical regime because they feared the rise of anti-austerity
parties in their own countries.
From Portugal’s
standpoint, this sounded like Greek gobbledegook. Despite widespread public
anger and street demonstrations over the severe austerity measures, there does
not seem to be any real appetite in this country to go down the Greek route. A
recent opinion poll shows that the centre-right Social Democrats and
centre-left Socialists are running neck-in-neck, far ahead of all the smaller
parties.
The most
extraordinary outcome envisaged by the political pundits in Portugal is a hung parliament
in the autumn election, resulting in a grand coalition between the big two.
Even Passos Coelho is not ruling it out. “I’m not closing any doors, but I’m
not going to draw scenarios,” he said.
Such a coalition
would match what happened after last year’s election in Germany. Some commentators
are forecasting a coalition between the Tories and Labour after May’s election
in Britain. It could also happen this year in Spain.
The present Spanish
government has more reason to ‘conspire’ because it faces a very real threat
from the radical left in the shape of the anti-austerity Podemos party, which
is enjoying a massive surge in popularity and currently leading the opinion
polls in Spain.
The Spanish prime
minister, Mariano Rajoy, has not ruled out a grand coalition between his conservative
party and the main opposition socialists, though, as in other coalition-prone
countries, eyes are on Germany where serious cracks have started to appear.
As for Tsipras’
conspiracy theory, his insulting remarks sent the European Commission scurrying
around in an effort to patch things up.
A Commission spokeswoman told reporters: “We are now in
close contact with all actors involved [her
words, not mine]... in order to
ensure there is unity among EU member states and especially among the EU states
of the eurozone.”
A spokesman for
the German finance minister sounded very upper crust English when tut-tutting
about Tsipras’ accusation. “By European standards, this was very unusual foul
play. We don't do that in the eurogroup, that’s not appropriate,” he said.
To his many fans,
Greece’s hairlessly handsome Yanis Varoufakis was the star of the first acrimonious
instalment of the finance ministers’ melodrama in Brussels. Just before the second
instalment got underway this week, a spokesman for Greece’s main opposition
party shattered Varoufakis hopes of an Oscar by saying he should be replaced
because “he doesn’t know what he is talking about..... every time he opens his
mouth he creates problems for the negotiating position of the country.”
The poker-playing
Varoufakis smiled and added to the ongoing intrigue by saying his two-month-old
government was willing to hold a referendum or even early elections if
eurogroup ministers reject Greece’s debt and growth plans.
The Dutch finance
minister and current eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem said the plans were
not good enough and that Greece must stop wasting time and start delivering.
“We have spent
the last two weeks discussing who will meet who, where and in what
configuration. It’s been a complete waste of time,” said Dijsselbloem following
this Monday’s Brussels meeting, which broke up in disarray after little more
than an hour.
Greek particpants
insisted the meeting had been a success. And as if confirming that wonders
never cease,Varoufakis revealed that representatives of the hated Troika would
be welcome in Athens for technical discussions, even though his governement
previously said it would no longer have anything to do with the Troika.
No harm in hoping
all this eventually turns out to be a horror story with a happy ending. On the
other hand, if Greece exits the EU, it will be much more than just a Greek
tragedy.
Meanwhile, the
show goes on.
No comments:
Post a Comment