António José Seguro, Secretary General of Portugal’s Socialist Party participated in a conference today at the London School of Economics where he offered a critical assessment of the European Union’s recent behaviour.
In a lecture, titled "There is an alternative. Lessons from Portugal" Seguro drew a negative picture of a country that leaves the Troika’s financial assistance programme in less than three months, adding "The EU has no political will to defend an alternative to austerity."
Seguro said the achievements in the bailout countries had been "anemic" and added that at the beginning of the sovereign debt crisis that hit Greece, Ireland, Spain and Portugal, the EU left them close to collapse and then imposed the "only solution," a policy of austerity.
The goals initially set out in the memorandum caused a huge increase in taxes, and according to Seguro the main lesson from the Troika programme in Portugal was that the solution of austerity failed in its main objectives and Portugal today is poorer and more unequal.
The socialist leader outlined his four alternatives
1. genuine economic and monetary union in the eurozone
2. the mutualisation of sovereign debt for countries where it exceeds 60% of GDP
3. separating the rating of countries from the rating of businesses
4. enabling the European Central Bank to act against speculation in the markets
Back in Portugal later in the day Seguro said "there is a broad social and political consensus on the need to balance the public accounts. The issue was never ‘no alternative’ but a lack of political will to pursue a different path." “New policies require new decision makers."
Seguro has declined to participate in some recent key parliamentary debates and his alternative approach to Portugal's austerity programme has focused on tax rates and various failed remedies to ease unemployment.
