COLD COUP: Portugal unconstitutionally blocks eurosceptic parties from taking office on the grounds of national interest

TWSP | 11 Nov 2015

The anti-democratic nature of the aggressive and oppressive NATO alliance is once again on display in Portugal, as a reactionary minority government headed by Prime Minister Coelho fell from power today thanks to opposition from the larger anti-austerity and anti-NATO leftist coalition. NATO is now revealed as the prison house of the peoples, from which proud nations are forbidden to exit. The right-wing party that came to power after the October 4th elections earlier this year has been brought down by a wave of protest against austerity.

Pedro Passos Coelho, the former minority Portuguese Prime Minister who fell from power on Tuesday

The left coalition has refused the austerity dictates of Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho. In a vote of no confidence, the parliament voted on Tuesday 123 to 107 against the Prime Minister’s reactionary government. [1] President Silva must now either allow the head of the left coalition, Socialist Antonio Costa, to form a minority government, or retain Coelho and an unstable Parliament until mid-2016, or find an alternative candidate. Under Portugal’s constitution, new elections cannot be held until the end of next spring. Costa has pledged to end “an obsession with austerity” that has plagued Portugal since the Eurozone Crisis and a € 78 billion bailout scheme in 2011. [2]

As the British spokesman Ambrose Evans-Pritchard of the London Daily Telegraph put it recently:

‘Portugal has entered dangerous political waters. For the first time since the creation of Europe’s monetary union, a member state has taken the explicit step of forbidding eurosceptic parties from taking office on the grounds of national interest. Anibal Cavaco Silva, Portugal’s constitutional president, has refused to appoint a Left-wing coalition government even though it secured an absolute majority in the Portuguese parliament and won a mandate to smash the austerity regime bequeathed by the EU-IMF Troika. He deemed it too risky to let the Left Bloc or the Communists come close to power, insisting that conservatives should soldier on as a minority in order to satisfy Brussels and appease foreign financial markets. Democracy must take second place to the higher imperative of euro rules and membership.’ [3]

If the British leave the EU, they may be planning to take Portugal, their oldest ally, with them.

Anibal Cavaco Silva, the reactionary and pro-NATO President of Portugal

In his message rejecting the formation of a left coalition government, Silva declared: “In 40 years of democracy, no Portuguese government has ever depended on the support of anti-European forces, in other words, forces which have campaigned to repeal the Treaty of Lisbon, the Budgetary Pact, and the Stability and Growth Pact, as well as calling for the dismantling of the Monetary Union and an exit from the Euro zone – not to mention leaving NATO… This is the worst possible time for radical change in the foundations of our democracy… After having realized a difficult program costing considerable sacrifice, it is my duty, in my constitutional power, to do everything possible to avoid sending false signals to the financial institutions, the investors and the markets.” [4]

President Silva is an enforcer for the demands of austerity ghouls in Germany, Brussels and the IMF over the economic rights of his own people. The “program costing considerable sacrifice” means the brutal austerity policies of the Portuguese political right enforcing the dictates of the IMF and the European Central Bank. Silva also did not mention that, while his conservative party did win 38.5% of the votes, the combined percentage of the three left-wing parties was equal to 50.7%. [5] This makes his claim that he is protecting against radical changes to democracy a bald-faced lie.

Antonio Costa, the leader of the Portuguese Socialist Party, who should be the Prime Minister in Lisbon today

This strategy of Cavaco Silva was angrily rejected by the Socialist Party leader, Antonio Costa, who called it a “grave mistake.”

The coup by Cavaco Silva represents a crude and arrogant interference by the largely figurehead with the larger constitutional prerogatives of the Portuguese parliament. The Portuguese tradition since the fall of the post—Salazar fascist estado novo dictatorship in 1975, has been that the political party with the largest number of seats in the parliament is given the first opportunity to form a government. But the right wing party lost 38 seats in the early October vote, and could not form a normal majority.

‘“The president has created a constitutional crisis,” said Rui Tavares, a radical green member of the European Parliament [in late October]. “He is saying that he will never allow the formation of a government containing Leftists and Communists. People are amazed by what has happened.” Mr. Tavares said the president has invoked the spectre of the Communists and the Left Bloc as a “straw man” to prevent the Left taking power at all, knowing full well that the two parties agreed to drop their demands for euro-exit, a withdrawal from NATO, and nationalization of the commanding heights of the economy under a compromise deal to the forge the coalition.’ [6]

Portugal is now already receiving veiled threats from the financial leeches at the IMF, who claim the country is still “highly vulnerable” to shocks in the market. [7] Recent June reports by the IMF on Portugal’s progress indicate that without more austerity, the arbitrary GDP goals – set by the IMF in the first place – will not be met. Furthermore, not abiding by the IMF’s infamous structural adjustments that demand privatization and a low minimum wage will end any hope of faster medium-term growth. [8]

To combat the IMF’s predatory policies, Portugal’s left coalition must not only reach out to their allies in Syriza, but also to anti-austerity forces around the world. The Tax Wall Street Party offers united front cooperation on the basis of an anti-NATO, anti-austerity program.

The xenophobic National Front of Marine Le Pen in France and the UK Labor Party under Jeremy Corbyn are both talking about an exit from the absurd and obsolete NATO alliance. Portugal would like to join this move towards the exits, but it must first deal with the fascist traditions of its own oligarchy.

Atlas Monitor

News & Analysis

COLD COUP: Portugal unconstitutionally blocks eurosceptic parties from taking office on the grounds of national interest

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