While the French government is facing a decline in its public finances, with a larger deficit than expected, Portugal is recording good budget numbers and is among the good students of Europe: its budget has achieved a surplus, its debt has fallen to less than 100% of national wealth, and the unemployment rate is around 6%. We are talking about an economic miracle in a country that was on the verge of bankruptcy 10 years ago.
The rigor of the budget organized by the Portuguese Socialists who came to power in recent years. “These good economic figures have allowed us to achieve certain social progress, such as the increase in pensions and the minimum wage which has almost doubled (820 euros per month),” estimates Margarida Marques, Portuguese MEP and member of the Portuguese Socialist Party. and the Social Democrats Group in the European Parliament. She took part in the debate on the Ici l'Europe program, on France 24 and the General Senate.
Low wages and housing crisis
But despite all this, Portugal still suffers from profound social difficulties, with more than two million people living below the poverty line. The serious housing crisis also affects the inhabitants of Lusitan, who have to face an explosion in property prices. Between 2021 and 2022, the rent for an average apartment in Lisbon increased by 50%.
“I wouldn’t say there’s a Portuguese economic miracle: the tax burden is too high, salaries are too low,” says José Manuel Fernandes, a Portuguese MEP, member of the European People’s Party (EPP) and the Portuguese Social Democratic Party (PSD), a centre-right party that narrowly won the last legislative elections in early March. “The average salary in Portugal is getting closer and closer to the minimum wage,” he laments. The average disposable income (excluding taxes) is €960 a month. “Some of the eastern countries that joined the EU in the 2000s (Portugal entered in 1986) have overtaken us in terms of wealth produced per capita!”
Portugal faces rise of far-right
In this context, the far-right Chega party achieved an unprecedented breakthrough in the legislative elections, coming in third place with 18% of the votes, a record percentage. The so-called government parties fear a similar breakthrough in the upcoming European elections in June, knowing that Chega currently has no members of the European Parliament.
“Chega’s endeavour is part of a dynamic and a network of the European far right that must be fought. Margarida Marques explains that Chega was supported, for example, by Marine Le Pen in the Portuguese campaign.
“The only solution to fight the far right is to have good policies,” José Manuel Fernández analyses. “Chega voters are not racists, they are not pro-Russian. They are just frustrated. We must give them a future, especially the young, and solve their daily problems.
