Portugal, the postponed country
by Francisco Gonçalves
All my adult life I have heard about recognized infrastructure and reforms, which are never done. The new Lisbon airport, the third and fourth crossings of the Tagus, the TGV, administrative reforms and Civil and Administrative Justice. The continuous dragging of all these infrastructures and all these reforms makes us a postponed country, which does not seem to find a solution for its collective future.
A few weeks ago a doctor friend told me with regret that he had ‘lost’ his children. Both graduates of Portuguese public universities, cream, naturally, dear to the national public purse, were forced to emigrate because they felt that Portugal does not offer opportunities for the future. They had jobs, but they felt that the country would not allow them to build a life that corresponded to their expectations.
A few years ago, a prime minister brilliantly asked the Portuguese to emigrate. The current prime minister, who has been prime minister for 6 years, does not say so directly, but the political conduct of his governments has made the end the same. Even if they don’t say to emigrate, the only solution they give to many Portuguese is this.
The dilemma of having today in the generation is more projected without formation of having today, a country that serves its and its expectation today.
When a young person emigrates, and the current cosmopolitan generation does not emigrate with the prospect of saving money – making their country a ‘half foot’ and later returning – but with the prospect of making a living outside Portugal, a taxpayer loses , which depletes social security contributions, and the family loses the child – the country becomes impoverished, the family loses ties and intergenerational solidarity, and the national community is disintegrated.
Portugal had, like it or not, a fruitful cycle, after joining the EEC/EU in 1985 and 2000, in which the country grew a lot and modernized even more, but after that cycle, it entered a time of stagnation and stagnation. of model and inability to grow.
The great growth of the years is simple economics This should be the great design. If the economy grows, and our systems do not migrate, countries grow to age, and our social systems are not supported.
The last few decades in Portugal were spent in indecision and inability to reform. A country that delays is a country that delays and is also a country without respect for its own. Are the Portuguese expendable to Portugal?