SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT?

CV19 has already affected 90 million people, will kill some six million and make us change the world. What is the EU's plan to support economy?

The EU’s huge plan to boost economy is to support:

1. Capital investments in sustainable and inclusive growth;
2. Managing financial risks from climate change, depletion of resources, environment and social issues;
3. Transparency and long-term vision.

Nice words, but how to achieve them? With current bureaucracy?

Financing is not economic development. Money stays in banks which prefer to finance private consumption at a higher interest rate than long-term investments. Or it goes to friends, to ruling parties. There is an Alliance for Banking on Values. For instance, Affinity Credit Union, First Green Bank, New Resources, Crédit Coopératif, Banca Ética, Triodos, Mibanco, Banco Fie, Vision Banco, BRAC. Why not using them to boost the economy where it also benefits social entrepreneurship?
Research compared a normal to an ethical  bank (Santander vs. Triodos) 2012-15. Small shareholders&clients are increasingly attracted by social investments&transparency, critical for ethical banking. “If I deposit in a bank, I wish it not to trade in arms nor in tax havens”. All 23 EU ethical/sustainable banks saw assets grow at an average of 9.7%. None of them operates in Portugal. How to use this opportunity and coming billions to make a better world?

The book ‘RESSURGIR’, Restart, by 33 authors from six countries, tell us what and how to do it.

Among the authors are:

Manuela Ramalho Eanes, former First Lady in Portugal;
Bagão Felix, former Finance Minister;
Mendo Henriques, earlier presidential candidate;
Thomas Halik, bishop and councellor to earlier Check-president.

The Duke of Bragança wrote forewords, where he states “the coronavirus triggered a worldwide crisis; it is clear that it was human activity that unbalanced the nature of pandemics. I hope that governments, will in time follow a new course for the balance of society with nature”.

In a short chapter SOLIDARITY, Manuela Ramalho Eanes tells how important it is now, to soon overcome the pandemic and avoid a second surge. She cites Pope Francis, “the army which now fights in dangerous environments has no other gun than a sense of community where none will win the enemy alone”.

In another chaper UNDERSTANDING, Discernimento, Bagão Felix writes that “we raise utility and egoism above moral values; then to become old is unfair and to born is inconvenient”. More: “politicians choose short-term impressions than the long-term solutions”.In CHINA, Mendo Henriques tells that it invested in a substantial better standard of life for many millions, in exchange for a control of the opposition.  In RETHINK TV+MEDIA, Antonio Santos tells how much people moved from printed to digital information and entertainment.

This book RESSURGIR is key to understand what the Portuguese government has to face in order to use this opportunity for structural changes in our society.

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