The subway workers were on strike in Lisbon on Thursday. Next month it will be the turn of the teachers. Portugal's blue-collar trade unions are gearing up to bring almost a million workers out later in the summer as the country's protest against austerity intensifies.
It is a similar story across large parts of the eurozone. There have been mass protests in Madrid, Dublin and Athens against policies designed to reduce budget deficits and bring about economic reform. Now, after six successive quarters of recession, it seems the protesters have something to cheer about. Austerity in the eurozone is in retreat. The European commission has told six countries – France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, the Netherlands and Slovenia – that they will have up to two extra years to put their public finances in order. In truth Brussels had little choice, because weak growth had reduced tax revenues and made it impossible for exacting budget targets to be met.
What's more, the commission found that it was one thing to dictate terms to the small countries on the periphery of the eurozone, but quite another to lay down the law to France, where François Hollande's loss of popularity in his first year in office surpasses that of any previous president.
3 comments:
The french had parity with Germany until reunification in the the 90's now Germany is the kingpin of the european community, they have lost that competitive edge. The European community is Germany, time to look at things as they stand now, it's just not fair , Spain, Portugal, Greece. Italy even France suffering under the Euro.
Nice social experiment but the united states of Europe is doomed unless it has a Federal reserve like the States, time to think and not acted . Its okay to say you were wrong but don't F--k everyone else up
Henri de Castries, chairman and chief executive of Axa, the world’s largest insurer by premium income, said in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph that the government of the French president, François Hollande, must learn the lessons of Britain’s experience.
“The UK was not in great shape in the early 1970s,” he said. “Mr Hollande has to decide if he wants to be Harold Wilson or Tony Blair.
“So far he has been ambiguous. I hope he is going to go for Blair. I am not asking him to become Margaret Thatcher.
“It could get worse but I am convinced that at one stage or another, reason will prevail.”
The action of Mr Wilson’s successor as prime minister, James Callaghan, in asking the IMF for a £2.3bn loan in 1976 is generally regarded as one of Britain’s lowest economic points of the post-war era. When asked if France’s heavily-indebted economy is in an even worse condition, Mr de Castries replied: “Yes, because the world has changed.
A jolly good thing too, of course. The euro has proved to be exactly the job-destroying, recession-creating, undemocratic monster the doubters always warned it would be.
Simply no. Britain still had a housing bubble, Britain still needs years to regain competitveness. Britain is still in recession and sliding down the individual financial well-being table even compare to most European countries. The main difference between Britain and many European countries is unemployment. Which is just lower because of the more liberal labour market and the absence of comparable unemployment benefits. So while the crisis has created more unemployed in Europe, it has created more working poor in Britain. And the reason for that is not the currency.
Whether Britain is really better off is just speculation.
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