4 de março de 2010

O momento da Zona Euro (VIII)

No livro de Dulce Neto sobre os anos em que Marçal Grilo foi Ministro da Educação [Difícil é sentá-los - A educação de Marçal Grilo, Oficina do Livro, 2001], diz aquele, a dada altura, a p.53, sobre o papel dos sindicatos (no caso, da educação, mas é acho que é possível generalizar): "Quando eles têm uma actuação exclusivamente corporativa e, em vez de considerarem a escola [e tudo o resto] como uma estrutura e uma instituição que tem um projecto, a considerarem apenas como um local de trabalho, nessa altura, eles fazem parte do problema [...]". Obviamente, os sindicatos constituem parte do problema português. Na Irlanda, face a um programa de estabilização das contas públicas, durissimo, a resposta dos sindicatos foi a de que seria possível contrariar a situação com outras medidas, e o que é relevante, é que apresentaram mesmo um programa de reformas de todo não descabidas. Cá, isso seria impensável, ou porque isso seria entendido como colaboracionismo, ou porque não existe capacidade de fazê-lo. Cá, faz-se greve para aumentar o quadro de pessoal.

Nota: Obviamente, que todos nós, eu incluído, fazemos parte do problema.


Como é vista a situação social e sindical na Europa do Sul:
  •  Europe's pampered strikers: Take a close look at who is on strike in Europe | The Economist: "My point is political. For the moment, newspapers across the world are full of pictures of strikes in Greece, Spain and France, and photographs of anarchists punching policemen in Athens. You could easily get the impression that the ordinary workers of Europe are about to explode in rage, making it impossible for their governments to push through the painful austerity measures that are, alas, needed in so many European countries. But for the moment the reality on the ground is different. An awful lot of people on the streets are those who cannot lose their jobs, which makes them a privileged minority in a nasty recession, and they are protesting to defend perks and pay that others can only dream of. I hope European politicians are watching, and concluding that they have an opportunity here, to tell the truth to their voters about the mess they are in, and what needs to be done to fix it. I think most European voters know this is a big crisis, and though they are angry about bankers and speculators and what have you, they also know that everyone has been living beyond their means. As long as the burden is seen to fall fairly, we may get through this yet."
    • The Euro's Final Battleground: Spain - WSJ.com: "Greece set off the crisis rattling the euro zone. Spain could determine whether the 16-nation currency stands or falls. The euro zone's No. 4 economy, Spain has an unemployment rate of 19%, a deflating housing bubble, big debts and a gaping budget deficit. Its gross domestic product contracted 3.6% in 2009 and is expected to shrink again this year, leaving Spain in its deepest and longest recession in a half-century."
    Apontamentos de análise:
    • The agonies of the eurozone reflect a far more significant hidden deficit | Timothy Garton Ash | Comment is free | The Guardian: "To survive and prosper, a European monetary union must develop at least a stronger element of economic union, and that in turn requires a stronger element of political union. Which, by the way, was one of the main motives for some of the chief political architects of what was then deliberately called "economic and monetary union", including François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl. This was not just, as is often said, Europe putting the (monetary) cart before the (political) horse. It was an attempt to use the cart to bring on the horse. It was the last big fling of the so-called ­"functionalist" approach, by which you build a politically integrated Europe through economic integration. Broadly speaking, that worked for half a century, from the 1950s to the 1990s; but in this case, it has not. Not unless this crisis catalyses further steps of integration, as earlier crises sometimes have." Para perceber o quadro geral, esta é de leitura absolutamente obrigatória.
    • FT.com / Columnists / Gideon Rachman - Greece threatens more than the euro: "As Greece’s financial crisis rumbles onwards, it has become commonplace to argue that the roots of the problem stretch all the way back to the design of Europe’s single currency. Actually, it is worse than that. The Greek crisis is about the very basis on which European unity has been built for the last 60 years. It threatens not just the euro but the entire edifice of the European Union. The risk for Europe now is that if the EU does not move forward politically in response to the Greek crisis, it will move backwards – and the long process of European integration could start to unravel. The EU has always proceeded by creating economic “facts on the ground”, which were intended to trigger political effects. Ever since the 1950s this has worked admirably, as a modest coal and steel community turned into a common market and finally into a Union of 27 nations, with its own parliament, supreme court and foreign policy. Jacques Delors, the European Commission president who presided over the creation of a single market in the 1980s, said frankly: “We’re not here just to make a single market – that doesn’t interest me – but to make a political union.” The creation of the single market involved a huge expansion of European law and therefore deep erosions of national sovereignty."
    E já agora, uma nota (antiga) sobre o impacto do Euro nos preços ao consumo:
    • Les choses de la vie - La parole est à la dépense - François Reynaert - Chroniques - nouvelobs.com Mais peu importe ces péripéties, seules comptent les conclusions du livre, étonnantes mais sans appel : en fait, si l'on fait une moyenne entre ce qui a monté et aussi tout ce qui a baissé (la technologie, les vêtements), l'Insee a raison, depuis l'euro, les prix n'ont pas tant bougé. C'est une moyenne, par définition, injuste. La hausse de la nourriture pénalise les pauvres, la baisse de l'écran plat ne les concerne pas : quand on n'a pas à bouffer, on ne se commande pas une télé pour la finir avec les restes des steaks hachés d'hier. Evidemment, en parlant de façon globale, on oublie un peu vite les quelques-uns qui se sont scandaleusement goinfrés sur le dos du changement de monnaie : si vous commandez parfois un jambon-beurre ou un café, vous voyez de qui je parle. Mais en moyenne, donc, le pouvoir d'achat est resté stable, le pauvre euro est hors du coup, et pourtant vous savez que vous vous êtes appauvri. Pourquoi ? Tout simplement parce qu'entre tous les nouveaux produits qui sont entrés dans votre vie, les abonnements free truc et les téléphones box machin, vous achetez toujours plus et vous ne vous en rendez pas compte. Ne vous étonnez pas de ce paradoxe, il est à la base même d'un système qui ne rêve que de cela : vous faire consommer encore et encore et, dans le même temps, être sûr que vous en soyez frustré pour que vous dépensiez encore plus. Ce système s'appelle le libéralisme. Sans prétention et chiffres en main, ce petit livre en a mis à nu ce rouage pervers. Pour le coup, c'est sans prix.

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