Possible anti-austerity coalition in Portugal

[Silva]

The Left Bloc earlier today, and now the Communist party have both announced there's an official agreement to back a Socialist-led government. Still a lot of pressure from the Socialists-in-name-only to refuse it.

 

[Silva]

Motion of no-confidence is in, left coalition agreement signed before lunch. It's going to be a very interesting week.

Update: The XX Constitutional Government has fallen.

 

[Fez909]

 

[redsquirrel]

Motion of no-confidence is in, left coalition agreement signed before lunch. It's going to be a very interesting week.

Update: The XX Constitutional Government has fallen.

Thanks for the updates, for whatever reason Portugal isn't getting anything much coverage here. What are your thoughts on where things are heading next?

 

[Silva]

Thanks for the updates, for whatever reason Portugal isn't getting anything much coverage here. What are your thoughts on where things are heading next?

Portugal isn't that interesting now (it's not like there's a Warsaw Pact around anymore), and the political results, while indicating a swing towards anti-austerity and the left, are still rooted in the center. A Left Bloc SYRIZA-style win would be far more remarkable than the current situation, that is a second-place minority centrist party aligning with their historically ideological closest parties to get a majority coalition.

Tomorrow there will be a presidential meeting with Costa and Coelho. I still don't expect Costa do become prime minister, and Cavaco would rather go down in history as a fash than concede the people might not have voted for PS, but certainly voted in majority against the PSD-PP coalition. It's either an "independent" presidential appointment government (which would be no-confidenced out right away again), or elections in the Summer, with the problems all that will imply (state living month-to-month).

 

[Silva]

No news, but just to show the character of the leads on youth wings of mainstream parties (Economy and Law students rich daddy's boys trying to network into government contracts):

Spoiler: Big picture

It's asking if this is what you voted in (that's Catarina Martins from the Bloc, Costa from PS and Jerónimo Martins from the PCP, if you never saw their faces).

Yeah, I'm sure that wasn't a topic during the campaign trail, but if there was a vote to depose the Nazis from Berlin, I'd certainly vote for it.

 

[J Ed]

Before the 2011 election I went to a Portuguese Communist Party rally in Coimbra near the university. Some students from the university there came to protest against the rally, though they were seen off pretty sharpish some of them actually threw stones at us, Portuguese rich kids are awful though I suppose they are awful everywhere.

 

[Silva]

A friend of mine went to law in Coimbra. I've heard my stories about the kind of people there.

 

[J Ed]

A friend of mine went to law in Coimbra. I've heard my stories about the kind of people there.

The local people are fine but the students are some of the most entitled right-wing shits that I have ever met.

 

[Silva]

The local people are fine but the students are some of the most entitled right-wing shits that I have ever met.

I think it's the same with every prestige university. It's public so it accepts a lot of decent people (my friend worked to pay for books and went through some shit), but every shithead with money wants to put lil' shithead jr. there. I've seen a bunch of openly fash fucks venting out on twitter yesterday, and unsurprisingly quite a few had "FDUC" (initials of the law school) somewhere on their profile.

 

[Silva]

Passos Coelho is now pushing for an extraordinary constitutional revision to have new elections now. Odds of that happening: none.

 

[J Ed]

A couple of good English language podcasts on the subject of the PS, PCP, BE coalition government from the always excellent Doug Henwood with Raquel Varela

November 12th

October 29th

 

[Silva]

On a great day for social progress, same-sex couple adoption passed on with the left vote (plus 19 PSD MPs). Abortion fees and mandatory psych counseling requirement were eliminated after being introduced late on the last government.

 

[Silva]

Breaking: António Costa is now the Prime Minister of the left-backed XXI Constitutional Government.

 

[Silva]

So, in what I hope is my last update until late January (presidential elections), the cabinet is now in functions. A lot of their background is consistent with promised policies, and one of them (Justice) has got a lot of people on the right and the Rupertesque press seething: woman, black and Angolan

However, they're all PS and independents; it's not a coalition government as much as a PS minority backed by the two leftmost parties, but that was more or less what was expected: those communist power grabbers and their tanks were always more interested in pushing socially progressive anti-austerity policies than figureheads. There will be weekly meeting to discuss measures, which should reduce public frictions.

 

[gosub]

Portugal agrees ‘Plan B’ deficit cuts - FT.com

Portugese debt now 129% of GDP.