Categories: Taxation

PORTUGAL IS HEADING TOWARDS FULL EMPLOYMENT

&NewLine;<h2 class="wp-block-heading">THE RETURN OF FULL EMPLOYMENT IN PORTUGAL</h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;Minimum wage up&comma; tax on big business&comma; pension increases&&num;8230&semi; Lisbon dares to go against the grain of EU economic dogma&period; And much to the chagrin of austerity advocates&comma; this policy is bearing fruit&period;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;Is there&comma; face <a href="https&colon;//francais&period;rt&period;com/economie/48551-chomeurs-europeens-plus-plus-pauvres">to the famous German model</a>A Portuguese counter-model&quest; Judging by the excellent figures Lisbon can boast&period; It would seem that the dogma of austerity&comma; touted by the European Union &lpar;UE&rpar; as the only viable economic option&period; Is being seriously called into question&period;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;With the unemployment rate steadily declining since November 2015Portugal&comma;&nbsp&semi;which was on the brink of economic collapse just a few years ago&period; is now more than just raising its head&period; &nbsp&semi;It can even look down on its neighbors&comma; first and foremost France&period; Whereas the unemployment rate peaked at 17&comma;5&percnt; at the beginning of 2013&period; It is now only 7&comma;9&percnt; at the beginning of 2018&comma; i.e. below the 8&comma;9&percnt; posted by France&period;&NewLine;<h2>Portugal&comma; a good pupil in the euro zone</h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;Did the Portuguese&comma; as good European students&comma; agree to a wage freeze or cut to get back on the road to&&num;8217&semi;employment &quest; On the contrary&period; The minimum wage was increased from 530€ to 557€ in 2017 and is due to rise to 600€ in 2019&period; Would Lisbon then have followed the&rsquo&semi;French and German example by easing corporate taxation &quest; Here again&comma; not at all &colon; the Portuguese government has, for example, created a tax for all companies with sales in excess of&rsquo&semi;€35 million&period;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;In reality&comma; on many points&period; Portugal's economic policy is the complete opposite of that recommended by Brussels and applied by Berlin or Paris for several years&period; Portugal's 2018 budget provides for an increase in retirement pensions&period; A program to upgrade the civil service or&period; While Brussels theorizes and imposes a doctrine of austerity based in particular on wage cuts and drastic reductions in social spending&period; Portugal thus seems to be contradicting all European economic lessons&period;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Why Portugal's success isn't sweeping Brussels off its feet</h2>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;Antonio Costa&rsquo&semi;s left-wing government can pride itself on having successfully implemented an ambitious economic policy&period; Why, then, is the Portuguese model so little praised in the EU and so little reported in the press&quest; Probably because it demonstrates that stimulus policies&period; A concept that has become almost taboo in Europe&comma; can indeed bear fruit&period; These are based on a simple idea&period; Stimulate consumption by improving wages and thus filling companies' order books&period; With positive effects for&rsquo&semi;investment and productivity&period;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;While many European governments are committed to the liberal and austerity dogma <a href="https&colon;//francais&period;rt&period;com/france/51765-gel-apl-2018-face-critiques-gouvernement-valoir-rien-cache">demand sacrifices from their citizens</a> whose promised results have yet to materialize&comma; it is easy to understand the lack of enthusiasm for Antonio Costa's government's political choices among the right-wing opposition&comma; The Portuguese Prime Minister has not hesitated to attack head-on the line formerly followed by the right&period; In line with the expectations of the European Union&period;EU&colon; "The austerity policy followed in recent years has resulted in an unprecedented rise in unemployment, with devastating social effects on young people and the least qualified citizens&period; as well as families and thousands of unemployed Portuguese&colon; it has also been associated with a devaluation of the dignity of work and workers' rights&period;"&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">The austerity policy has resulted in an unprecedented increase in unemployment with devastating social effects</blockquote>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;This unorthodox policy irritates the Brussels authorities even more&period; The Commission considers that Portugal's 2018 budget does not meet the European requirements for reducing public spending&period; Set at 0&comma;6&percnt;&comma; since&rsquo&semi;it would only allow a reduction of&&num;8230&semi; 0&comma;4&percnt;&period; The&rsquo&semi;EU doesn't seem to take kindly to Portugal's denial of the Brussels mantra that the budget deficit can only be reduced by cutting public spending&period; By demonstrating that a demand-side policy is capable of triggering a virtuous circle leading to an increase in state revenues&comma; Lisbon calls into question the very foundations of an economic dogma that the EU is determined to believe is set in stone&comma; unless it is its very DNA&quest;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;A very European paradox&period; The two most zealous defenders of Brussels' economic doctrine&comma; Berlin and Paris&comma; are far from the best placed to lead the way&period; With growth slowing&comma; consumption down and investment lower in the first quarter of 2018&period; France and&rsquo&semi;Germany could be less sure of themselves&period; And yet&comma; the German model still enjoys&rsquo&semi;exceptional publicity throughout Europe&period; &NewLine;&nbsp&semi; &NewLine;<a href="https&colon;//francais&period;rt&period;com/economie/53308-comment-portugal-se-dirige-vers-plein-emploi-faisant-inverse-exige-bruxelles" target="&lowbar;blank" rel="noopener">source</a> &NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;

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