The portuguese reality

Afonso Almeida Brandão"

Last month, a “Civic Manifesto Against the Country’s Economic and Social Backwardness” was published, signed by around forty signatories, which aims to draw the attention of the Portuguese people to Portugal’s growing backwardness in the context of other European nations. This is a different manifesto, because it mainly uses statistical data instead of the usual arguments of more or less ideological origin. It is a text that confronts the Portuguese people with facts instead of opinions, which is why it is a devastating text for the “Cuxa-Lista” Party and the Government, to the extent that they cannot combat it or even comment on it. As the saying goes, there is no argument against facts, which is why I reproduce part of the text here and avoid any more words, which are probably useless.

– “In 26 years, in the period 1995-2021, GDP per capita, at constant prices, recorded a very low annual growth rate of 1.25%” (Source: Pordata). – Since 1999, Portugal has been diverging from the EU and the Portuguese have less purchasing power today (compared to the EU average) than they did more than 20 years ago (data extracted from Eurostat — Economist Abel Mateus). Since 1999, Portugal has been overtaken in terms of wealth generated (measured by GDP “per capita”) by 11 countries worldwide (IMF database). Since 1999, Portugal has had the 3rd slowest growth in the Eurozone, that is, around 0.8%/year until 2020 — removing the effect of the pandemic (Source: European Commission). More recently: “In 2015 (beginning of the “geringonça” government), Portugal’s GDP pc was 78% of the EU average and fell to 74% in 2021. In the same year of 2015, Portugal was above 10 European Union countries, in terms of GDP pc, and in 2021 it is only above 6 other Member States” (Source: Eurostat). In 2020, of the 38 OECD countries, Portugal was the 5th country with the biggest drop in economic growth, compared to 2019 (Source: Economic Outlook – Nov. 2022 – OECD).

The reaction to this sharp drop explains the high growth rate in 2022, of 6.7%, with a return to lower and more mediocre growth of around 1% expected in 2023 (Economic Outlook — Nov. 2022 – OECD). “In 2021, Portugal is the 4th country in the Eurozone with the lowest purchasing power” (INE). In low wages: “In 2022, more than 50% of workers receive salaries of less than 1,000 euros per month” (Source: Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security). In 2021, the average monthly salary of employees was 1,082.8 euros (Pordata). The National Minimum Wage, as a percentage of the Average Wage, was 51% in 2001 and 63% in 2019 (data from INE and Pordata). The evolution of the average real salary in European countries that are part of the OECD, at constant prices and purchasing power parity, grew by 22%, from 2000 to 2021. Portugal, in that period, grew by 4% (OECD). A recent study by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation (“Young People in Portugal, Today”) indicates that 72% of them (young people between 15 and 34 years of age) receive less than 950 euros in monthly remuneration. “With low pensions: 78.6% of old-age and disability pensioners under the general Social Security scheme have pensions below the national minimum wage” (Pordata data). “With high levels of poverty: data relating to 2021 show that Portugal was in 8th place among the European countries with the highest risk of poverty and social exclusion, with 22% of the population affected” (Eurostat data). There are around 2.3 million Portuguese people, of which it is estimated that around 2/3 are employed.

Very recent data published in the media (“O Expresso” newspaper, 27/1/2023, supported by INE data) reveal that, in 2021, there were 2.6 million people (more than ¼ of the population) living on less than 660 euros per month. “Without social transfers and pensions, almost half of the Portuguese (43.3%) would be poor” (INE data for 2021). “With high levels of emigration: the number of emigrants, per thousand inhabitants, is higher in the last decade than that recorded in the 1960s (the highest historical values ​​until then)” (Source: Pordata). “In the decade from 2010 to 2020, almost one million Portuguese emigrated, mainly young people” (Pordata). “In the last seven years, emigration has been around 90% of the total recorded in the entire 1960s” (Source: Pordata). The Manifesto adds: “The country’s backwardness revealed by these indicators has occurred despite Portugal having received significant EU funds over the last two and a half decades, which have taken the form of public transfers from the European Union since 1995, totalling around 118 billion euros (Pordata data) and in the period 2015-2019, there were very favourable conditions for growth (strong expansion of the European economy, historically low interest rates, strong growth in tourism, low oil prices) which were wasted by the Socialist Governments”. What are the words for? The reality of a country that has stood still in Time over the last seven years cannot be discussed in view of the data and, mainly, in view of the poverty in which millions of Portuguese people live, many of whom were once middle class. A country that has already asked for external aid three times, the most recent of which was the result of corruption in political power that led to a Prime Minister being accused of being corrupt. A country where the justice system fails to fulfil its function in the slightest and where democracy has been captured by party hierarchies, particularly the “Chuxa-Lista” Party, which has dominated all sectors of political, economic and social power in the country for the last 20 years. It is against all this that this “Civic Manifesto Against the Country’s Economic and Social Backwardness” draws the attention of the Portuguese people, with a particular warning to the media about their responsibilities not to hide the problems we face and not to hide the responsibilities we all have to tell the truth and overcome the more or less pious lies of those in power.

2025/12/3