Saturday, February 12, 2011

A Political "Party"

Today, I will be following the current events in Portugal via RTP which I described in my last post but with a little bit of a twist today.  I'm going to be watching it with my grandmother so she could translate a little bit since I don't speak the language enough to fully understand what is going on.  If you look at the previous post the RTP live feed is on there if you would like to see the different media it presents to citizens here in the U.S. and in other countries as well.  Here is the link again if you didn't catch it in the last post.  The RTP International TV station


They are currently reporting from Egypt following the resignation of former President Mubarak.  The people are urging the citizens to clean up the streets following their celebration.  Interesting enough is that the Portuguese reporter is speaking English to the Egyptian people. 


Pedro Passos Coelho
Leader of the Social Democratic Party
Different politcal figures are giving speeches this week discussing the financial crisis that has seemed to keep going.  Now in Portugal, they just dont have the American model of bicameral parties.  It consist of many parties.  If you thought American politics was confusing try living in a country with 16 different politcal parties.  Ranging from the far left, the Portuguese Communist Party, and to the far right, Popular Monarchist Party.  The main political parties that rise up against the rest are: Socialist Party (PS, 121 seats in parliament); Social Democratic Party (PSD, 75 seats); Portuguese Communist Party/Green Ecologist Party (Coligacao Democratica Unitaria, CDU, 14 seats); Popular Party (PP, 12 seats); Left Block (BE Bloco de Esquerda, 8 seats).  Different
"Power to the Portuguese Communist Party"
 parties describing how the financial crisis should be dealt with regarding their particular political viewpoints.  The increased taxes and reduction in public spending has been the main cause of the debt the country is in (no one argues the cause). The political parties seem to have building tension with the Government.  They will be voting whether or not to censure the BE or not. 
At the closing of the Forum of New Frontiers-Defend Portugal, Centro de Congressos de Lisboa, José Sócrates stated, “the threat of political instability hampers the effort of all the Portuguese”.  This is a reatction to censuring the Bloco de Espuerda, BE.  

"There are no mistakes, because it is truly serious and there is no time to lose, the duty of those who want to keep on the side of the national interest is cut right now with this irresponsible adventure and end up straight away with any questions or with any ambiguity, each day that passes this uncertainty is a blow to confidence and a sign of contempt by the effort of the Portuguese", defended José Sócrates.

The PSD is highly considering censuring the BE because of its radical viewpoints that it maintains.     
  


Since we are in the realm of finances, Portugal has decided to buy back its own bonds to avoid an international buyout.  José Sócrates, Portugal’s prime minister, has condemned a censure motion to be tabled against his minority government as a “colossal irresponsibility” that will weaken efforts to avert an international financial bail-out.  Portuguese officials say this shows the country has enough money to refinance its debt.  Many people, citizens and politicans alike, fear that they will have to follow suit with Ireland and Greece in asking the EU (European Union) to buy them out.  The estimated cost of the bonds are approximately worth €9.4bn.


I decided to call this entry a political "party" because it seems as though many of the political leaders are weighing in on the financial crisis.  I thought it was pretty catchy, if you think so feel free to make a comment if you can think of a better title. I'd like to know your opinion!


Thank you and have a nice day everybody!




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