Europe shows that it knows how to negotiate. What can Portugal learn from this? – Opinion
Aspiring government partners in Germany have therefore given themselves three months so that nothing remains to be done in keeping with the stability of the forming alliance.
The loss of weight of Europe’s former major parties and the fragmentation of parliaments introduces new complexity into the continent’s political system.
In the Netherlands, a negotiation by the government coalition has been going on for 236 days. It is being a negotiation process involving the four parties of the previous Government, now in management: VVD (centre-right, led by Mark Rutte, head of government since 2011), D66 (centre-left), CDA (Christian Democrats, centrists) ) and CU (conservative right). The 236 days it takes for this renegotiation of the agreement to govern in The Hague is far from the Belgian record of 541 days without a fully invested government.
In Spain, the central government formed by PSOE and Unidas Podemos is supported in parliament by complexes with autonomous parties. With some, the commitment is limited to the abstention that makes executive diplomas viable.
In Italy, the parties knelt before Prime Minister Super Mario (Draghi), who governs on a model of national unity, despite some minor disagreements.
In Finland, the government presided over by the social democrat Sanna Marin is a coalition with a very wide range that involves five parties: in addition to the SPD social democracy, the Center Party, the Green League and the conservative Popular Party. This five-party alliance, which is supported by 117 of 200 deputies in the Helsinki parliament, leads to a government with 19 ministries and scarce gender equality: 12 of the 19 total are women.
In this 21st century in Europe, party fragmentation is imposing coalition governments formed by very different groups.
The governments of the 16 Federal-Regional States in Germany were pioneers in opting for this model of coalitions between parties with very different programs. In nine couples in 16 states-Federal Regions, the Government passes either through a coalition of a central bloc or an alliance of at least three parties. With one constant: a barrier to the far-right AfD party.
The same line is being followed by the Scandinavian Social Democracy who lead the governments of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. They govern with preferential support from greens and liberals, but there are complications for other moderate and even conservative parties. In the case of Sweden, the role of unions that promote social consensus that is articulated with political plurality is very strong.
Everywhere the old central parties are discussing how to regain lost electoral space. There is a transversal conclusion: they need to listen more to voters, seek social agreement and political consensus.
These attributes have been very scarce in Portugal, where the authority of the heads of the party apparatus prevails and is insignificant for the meeting with the citizens. Irrational doses of customizable personal antipathies and hatreds wall up against understandings between different parties.
In order for us not to enter Portugal at a time of successive electoral blockades and repeated changes (which happened in 2019 in Spain), a new culture of in-depth negotiation and openness to compromises will be needed.
This is happening across Europe.