Image by Homes for Sale Portugal

Lambs to the Slaughter

Pension Theft: Higher Taxes: Reduced Salaries: and So Much More!

Jose Socrates departure leaves Portugal in a vacuum: (But he’s alright)

Whether the prime minister resigned for reasons of honour or strategy, Portugal’s future is now bleaker.

Joana Gorjao Henriques guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 March 2011 12.43 GMT

Portugal’s Prime Minister José Socrates announces his resignation after parliament rejected his government’s austerity measures.

Whatever you make of the factors that drove the Portuguese prime minister, Jose Socrates, to resign, the conclusion is that the future of his country now looks much bleaker. The national bailout has to be closer than ever. And, on top of an economic and financial crisis, there’s a political crisis with unpredictable consequences.

Socrates was leading one of the poorest Eurozone countries with chronic economic problems. He was also watching over a socialist minority government, a parliament under tension, a fierce relationship with the recently re-elected conservative president Cavaco Silva, and an increasingly disgruntled youth that had started to air its frustration on the streets.