election commitment. Left bloc in 2011

[1]

synthesis

Summary of the Left Block Commitment
Legislative in 2011

Addressing the debt,
Save the economy, create jobs
and social respect
The choice of the Portuguese people on 5 June is between submission to the IMF program of recession and unemployment, and the proposal of a path to growth and social justice. The Block
Left presents the country with a leftist government project to materialize
this path.

FACING THE DEBT
1. Audit of debt
An outlet for the country's emergency situation is based on democracy. No beads
clear with an obscure debt. For the Left Bloc, it is necessary to know the composition
of public and private debts, their origin, their maturity and their interest. The debt must be
paid by those who create it. The part of the state is the smallest, but already includes today illegitimate installments,
resulting from abusive interest and corruption and favoritism business. To decide on the
debt, it is necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff.
2. Debt Renegotiation
The unfair conditions imposed on Greece, Ireland and Portugal lead these countries to
a deferred bankruptcy. The spiral into the abyss can be avoided only by means of a renegotiation
strict. The Bloc proposes a renegotiation setting new deadlines, new interest rates and
reasonable satisfaction of conditions, accompanying the economic recovery and to annul
the non-existent debt. Instead of being a business opportunity for the creditors of the countries of
periphery, these difficulties should mobilize a European cooperation policy against
speculation.

[2]

synthesis

3. Attack the profligacy
In addition to canceling the outstanding public-private partnerships, the Bloc proposes to impose a
ceiling to shareholders of the PPP to the average level of public debt interest rate charged on
previous years.
The absurd military spending should be checked on their legality and must be broken stained contracts for corruption or failure of counterparties. The expense
associated with the presence of NATO must stop in Portugal this organization output frame
aggressive military.
Zero Base Budget, which requires services and State departments to justify every expenditure, rather than the addict playing a cyclical expenditure framework should be applied.
The Left Bloc also proposes the abolition of civil governments, the drastic reduction of external consultancies, transfer to the NHS health care provided by private
but paid by the state, a review of funding to foundations, surveillance of appointments
public and wage restraint in the public sector the salary of the President of the Republic.

COMBAT DEPENDENCY
1. National Rescue Fund
Block proposes the creation of a rescue guarantee fund debt based on taxation
of stock market operations, transfers to tax havens and even a new tax on capital gains urban.
2. Tax Justice
Single tax Heritage to include financial assets and shares (at the same level
Current IMI, which should not be changed). In exceptional cases of large fortunes, the Block
Left proposes an appropriate complementary tax, whose revenues should be channeled to the
Social Security.
Where the right is proposed decrease the Single Social Tax, offsetting this favor by sector
private with increases in VAT, Block applied in its fiscal policy the criterion of employment: worsening of corporation tax on companies that have public support but that distribute dividends to
shareholders rather than reinvest; support the creation of effective jobs and better salaries.
3. savings mobilization and strengthening public banking
The small and medium popular savings should be concentrated by issuing bonds
with reasonable income and obligations regarding public projects streamlined in sector
State entrepreneurial. Similarly, the Bloc proposes redirecting to CGD of 12,000
million provided to support private banking. Only the soundness of public bank allows
a sustainable strategy of credit to the economy.
[3]

synthesis

SAVE THE ECONOMY
1. Take public investment
The funds generated by the policies of a leftist government should be invested in economic stimulation policies. Is urgent urban renewal plan and energy efficiency to create jobs, regenerating city centers and combat the lack of houses for rent. It can create tens of thousands of new jobs in the railway recovery,
in child support services and senior citizens, in the export sectors, in modernizing
the energy supply networks, the development of rural areas and preserving
of our natural resources.
2. Reduction dependence
Reduce the external debt means replacing imports with domestic production. THE
Portuguese energy dependence can be reduced through corrections to the wind model,
advancing in consumption efficiency, microgeneration and solar energy. Block also suggests
food sovereignty strategy for fisheries and agriculture, with the formation of
a Bank of Lands, to give opportunities to those who want to work.
3. Enhancement of work, the fight against insecurity
Portugal, which for centuries has been a country of emigrants and that, in recent decades, had become a country of immigrants, returned to its former condition. Hence there is a part where
employment and living conditions. It had to be. Leave or stay should be a
choice, not a fatality.
The Left Bloc is liable for the rights of precarious work, proposing the end of
false green receipts and false temporary work. We defend the limit of one year for
forward contracting. For seasonal or one-off activities, defended contracts not hipotequem the right to unemployment benefit in the months when there are no jobs. For young people
students per year to work up to 50 days or 400 hours, we favor a contratoestudante that guarantees discounts reduced social security.
Only there will be growth with strengthening demand: Block advocates the cancellation of pay cuts approved in parliament by the PS and the PSD, as well as the fulfillment of the agreement
provided for a minimum wage of 600 euros in 2013. With 700,000 unemployed, it is necessary
face the growing poverty, with the replacement of social benefits cut, starting
the family allowance with the increase of the lowest pensions and the guaranteed access to goods
Essential as electricity and water.

[4]

synthesis

Instead of accepting a conviction presented as inevitable, the Portuguese people can
change in the future. In the country that made April 25, there is a people and a left able to respond to the task. For the Bloc, this survey can only prevent social tragedy ahead
and save the economy with justice.
In these elections, the vote is as simple as a referendum. The choice is between alliance policy
IMF or the socialist policies of a Left government.

[5]

election commitment. Left bloc in 2011

Election commitment. Left Block 2011

FUTURE CHANGE
THE WORK AND THE FISCAL COURT

[6]

election commitment. Left bloc in 2011

FUTURE CHANGE
THE WORK AND THE FISCAL COURT
Outside intervention is the most important decision facing the country in many years and
many years. It is extraordinary that the troika of Brussels and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
has imposed on the country a government program and a government preference for running ... three weeks before the elections that should decide on that. The rescue conditions and decreases the Portuguese democracy and this is not your minor problem. Leaders
PS, PSD and CDS can simulate disagreements they want, but are tied to a
common destiny. All accepted the ultimatum and all resigned themselves to a governance framework
where the future prime minister will decide less than any bureaucrat who send Brussels
to monitor compliance with the rescue. Although the agreement with the troika PS, PSD and CDS was not finished, and already a European Commissioner commented words of the President to the
arrogance of a colonial governor. To get used to, we will be fatal. Definitely elections
5 June put to the test our fiber as a people.
Rarely in Portuguese democracy a decision was so demanding. People will hear the
explanations of the parties supporting the troika: for them, the external intervention is an "opportunity". But people will listen with equal attention to the left: this debt does not have to be
pay with recession, with the impoverishment of the poorest and the fiscal strangulation of
average incomes. People know that the left mobilizes the energy response to unemployment will reach 800,000 people in the term of this agreement, defends opportunities
for those who are only in emigration, protects the most sacrificed.
The left shows the alternative exists. The country must pay what is due according
than you are able to grow because the priority is jobs and people's lives. Creditors
It can no longer be worth more than the poor. The recession may be addressed by mobilizing the resources and energies of the country. With fair taxation and a new credit policy and
public, national and European investment, you can get out of the bottomless pit where the country was
shot by finance capital and irresponsible rulers. It's your choice.

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election commitment. Left bloc in 2011

1. REFUSE TO FOREIGN INTERVENTION,
DEFEND THE COUNTRY'S ECONOMY
People are worried. There is always someone who falls in unemployment, a contract
is fine, a freeze in salary or pension, a further rise in interest rates, or a rule that
changed a social benefit. But then there's another crisis, one that the media talk and where
the words "deficit" and "debt" to hammer exhaustion ... In fact, both are faces of a
same problem. It is a crisis that calls for the application of external intervention, as is the experience
Life in crisis intuitively rejects. In this case, intuition is most certain.
The rescue saves lenders, sinking the economy. By the end of 2013, commitments
State to domestic and foreign creditors amount to 54 billion euros (41 000
million of repayments and 13 billion in interest). This is the debt that justifies the loan
Troika and to which it must add 12 billion euros to support the capitalization of the banking
Private. Do your maths: the € 78 billion bailout, 66 billion guarantee
the interests of banks (Portuguese or European) who have purchased government bonds of
our country. And now added about 30 billion for interest at an unbearable rate. A
word, more than three-quarters of which goes to pay creditors or for finance. But the
What is good for finance capital is good for the economy? Across Europe, governments have
saved banks to taxes and walk with their managers on the palms.
We have received in return? Credit to revive the economy with interest rates and spreads
reasonable? It is incomprehensible that whoever speculated against our country, is the first priority
Troika.
This rescue is impossible to pay. The three parties signed the Memorandum of understanding with the troika without knowing, even, the required price. It is now known that the average interest
loan exceeds 5 percent. Of little use to know that an interest rate of 5 percent is
less than 10 percent another because they are both bad. This price is only paid doing
increase the deficit and putting the economy to grow well above 3 percent per year. It is
last possibility is absurd in the context of recessive policy in place and that will, according
the IMF itself, the 2 percent falls in GDP in 2012 and 2013. It is still symptomatic
the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the IMF, inter-state institutions
to complain about the "solidarity", act as private investment funds. To
IMF, the Portuguese rescue is a liquid plug of at least EUR 500 million and
European governments, profit exceeds one billion euros.
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election commitment. Left bloc in 2011

The bill redemption is the PEC IV. The financial system, the great entrepreneurs and ranks
higher IRS, the three Stability and Convergence Programmes (CEP's) decided so far, called for an additional effort of 2 billion euros. To all others - the poor,
quinhentoseuristas, the mileuristas and usually the middle-income classes - was distributed
a global bill of 17 billion euros. All PEC's were bad, but none have been as
unfair as the last. Promote instability, facilitate individual dismissals and decrease
duration and amount of unemployment benefits, is an option that can only be understood in the light of a
governance insensitive to the social drama.
The same indifference is reflected in the freezing of salaries and pensions. For weeks,
media speculated about the possibility of the Christmas bonus payable in
Treasury bonds. It was an optimistic fantasy. Be added to the freezing of pensions and salaries
for three years, inflation caused by the VAT increase, the increase in user fees,
water, electricity and transport, cuts in social benefits and the reimbursement of medicines, as well as in tax deductions, you will see that at issue losses
income equivalent to the Christmas bonus and holiday pay. The rescue reimburses
impoverishing Portugal and the Portuguese creditors.
The rescue sells public assets at a bargain price. The government of Jose Socrates had predicted
a program of privatization of 6 billion euros by 2013. The troika will moderate the
liberal enthusiasm of the outgoing Prime Minister, fixing the estimated revenue at 5.5
billion. In any case, neither the troika program, nor the aggravated version of Peter
Passos Coelho make any sense from an economic point of view. It's not just wrong dispose
public positions in strategic areas; This is also the worst time to do so. O
foreign capital will be the sole beneficiary of sales at bargain basement prices. When the crisis calls
the poorest have guaranteed access to essential goods such as water and electricity,
rescue drowning social responsibility an ideological adventure.
We should learn from the experience. Interest required to Greece by European governments and the
IMF in return for 110 billion euros to 7 and a half years was 5.2 percent. Ten months more
later, with the country to its knees and the national debt to skyrocket 115% to 145% of GDP, interest
declined by 1 percent. This improvement was, however, involved in new social cuts and a violent privatization program. Greece proves that one can die of cure when it errs on
diagnosis. Already in Ireland were the banks that led the country to bankruptcy. If the government had
followed the Icelandic example, which blamed the shareholders and creditors for their own
losses, the state deficit would not have shot and Brussels and the IMF would have a bailout tax
85 billion euros repayable in 7.5 years at 5.8 percent interest. The new government
seeks to renegotiate this absurd price without, however, relieve the austerity program. Greece
and Ireland were condemned to survive Rescue rescue, with unemployment shooting
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election commitment. Left bloc in 2011

and production in free fall. Rather, Iceland inspires. Shows that an improvement people
substantially their ability to fight and negotiation when you lose the fear and refuses to blackmail. Also the Portuguese can change the future that the troika prepared for them.

In ransom negotiation, the people attended the victim's condition.
But on June 5 it is the sovereign, the protagonist of their own future.
If the majority rejects external intervention, European capitals will understand the message:
Portuguese refuse "poisoned helps" but are ready to share responsibilities.
To those who fear a break from payments, we say: let Brussels never fall creditors,
or want a greater instability in the interior of the euro itself.
Portugal still be able to solve their most urgent financial problems.

[10]

election commitment. Left bloc in 2011

2. IN EUROPE WITHOUT SUBMISSION,
RESPONSIBILITIES WITH SHARED
Since joining the then EEC, Portugal has been in the hand of the rulers, the "good student"
which sought to always be at "the forefront". We pay now for years and years of cunning.
Portugal needs to build an alliance that brings together the countries under rescue and those who go there for, like Spain. The chain of redemptions is based on the idea that each country is responsible
the speculative attack on its sovereign debt. Nothing is more false. In reality, speculators have been attacking the weakest links of the euro economy, because they know that the Union
do not ask them responsibilities. The first people to break the chain of redemptions does not
only good news to himself; force Europe to review its own monetary policy.
Portugal does not need help; You need, rather, of shared responsibility. Instead
of what is said, not all the difficulties are "our fault". Portugal's accession to the EEC has not only brought the Structural Funds. The enlargement to Eastern countries created difficulties for exports,
that is accentuated with the entry into the euro. No currency to devalue, with a weak industrial structure and subject to intense competition, the Portuguese economy has lost over the last 20 years,
market shares in almost all sectors. This is the story of a thousand deindustrialization
times announced and confirmed. In it, Portugal accounts for the choices he made, but not by
persistent artificial appreciation of the euro against the dollar. Beneficial to the European financial capital, the strong euro was a tragedy for countries with deficit trade balances. also
the stability and growth pact, the Franco-German patent, has harshly penalized the
countries with longer delays. Contrary to what the national self-flagellation that sighs
by the troika, the divergence between countries of the North and South of Europe can not be explained by a being
"Good and disciplined" and other "incompetent and lazy". It was only by ineptitude and bad government that the average yields of the Portuguese began to distance if the European average ...
in 2001. The EU has its share in the decade we lost. Like us, you can only redeem move
future.

A EUROPE FOR JOBS
1. The Union shall issue European bonds, pooling sovereign debt in excess. This solution is more fair and less costly than the EFSF / IMF loans. The issue
of "eurobonds" finds supporters in various governments, among MEPs from various pair [11]

election commitment. Left bloc in 2011

taken and in many public finance experts. The proposal assumes, correctly,
that the titles under speculative pressure weigh heavily in their countries, but they are little
significant in Europe. On the other hand, the European bonds would be a safe investment with low interest rates, approaching those charged in Germany. The exchange of bad securities
high interest for good low-interest titles is interesting for everyone ... since they have done redemptions
ensure that all of the gain for finance. This is a more robust and equitable global solution
that redemptions country to country.
2. The Union shall establish a European rating agency and to prosecute those that exist. Brussels should offer to governments to withdraw in concert their
sovereign debt by the rating agencies. Economic information about the countries is the
public domain and institutions who acquire government bonds have means to assess the
risks they face. The four agencies that dominate the world market for ratings shall be
administrative and court prevented from playing against the wages and pensions of people.
3. The Union shall make public investment away from deficit calculations. The effective economic coordination must recognize that different countries have different starting points. Germany,
with growth rates of 3% and no difficulties in financing, may have budget surpluses. A country already in recession, with 11 percent of its unused workforce and companies to operate below capacity, needs public investment
out of apathy.
4. The Union needs a Pact for Employment, a strengthened budget and a new
European investment bank, designed for lending to SMEs. This is not a point of view
selfish, only useful for the more peripheral countries. A Union with reinforced instruments
for job creation prevents and corrects the imbalances created by the euro itself.
5. Finally, the Union must combat tax havens and create a European tax on
financial transactions. The closure of offshore dependent of EU states is the best way to fight tax evasion. Similarly, one should not wait for a decision
world to advance the creation of a European rate of 0.01% on financial transactions. The funds raised in this way, estimated at 200 billion euros annually, should fund the programs to combat poverty globally and within Europe.

[12]

election commitment. Left bloc in 2011

3. public accounts: growth and fiscal justice
The fight against the deficit has led the country's economy. Ensures the official doctrine that "market confidence" depends on reducing the budget deficit. Consequently, the deficit
It is all. Totalitarian, unifies the economic proposal of PS and right cements their political alliance
and justifies external intervention. But the facts give reason to the deficit? No. The facts show that
a blind fiscal consolidation without growth and no employment, has been a recipe for
disaster.
The worsening of the public debt results to a large extent, the obsession with the deficit. Public Private Partnerships (PPP), which today represent 40% of the Portuguese public debt, not
explain without it. Through PPP, the economic groups allowed the governments of PSD and
PS present "work done" without a euro public investments. In exchange, they received the concession contracts whose terms are in constant adjustment invariably
at the expense of the State, with interest coming to duplicate the Brussels and the IMF. This irresponsibility is valued at 60 billion euros. Within 30 years, our children still
the will to pay. What looks cheap is expensive.
The ratio of public debt to the budget reached a critical point. On the one hand, interest
and charges on loans will exceed 6 billion euros in 2011 (the Budget
State for 2011 are forecast 6300 million in interest and other debt charges
public), almost as much as the state spends on education. On the other hand, the next two
years, making debt is close to 50 billion euros and the PPP will start weighing,
significantly, the State Budgets. The ransom is also a false solution because
deceives reality without addressing the causes.
On the side of private debt, which comes on a gross basis to 400 billion euros, the situation
It is not better. Unlike public debt, which was still in line with the European average
in 2008, private debt better reflects the trend long haul. The fact that caring
more than exports, it weighs. Also the agreement that banks and governments of Cavaco Silva and
António Guterres celebrated with the people in the 90s, ensuring easy and cheap credit at very low salaries and pensions, it played a role in the private debt growth. Many
families have come to depend too much credit, believing that the future would be like
him had painted easy until the end of days. They were victims of misleading advertising, but the
the same can not be said of the economic groups that borrowed extensively to res [13]

election commitment. Left bloc in 2011

consider both the PPP and privatization. With a minimum wage of 485 euros and
average pension to 391 euros, Portugal is not "a country living beyond its means." What
debt shows is that there are those who live "on top of our possibilities."
Without growth, neither the deficit nor the debt be solved. The recent evolution of the Portuguese accounts shows that we can control spending, but not the deficit. In 2009, half of the plan
reaction to the crisis was to stop the financial sector and only 1% was allocated to job creation.
The recession, which was inevitable, was not tackled vigorously, and the result was a break
pronounced in tax revenues. The increased deficit and debt as well. In 2010, the country experienced the
pace of PEC's, but not the debt path has been corrected, or the deficit narrowed, ending
by settling at 9.1% of GDP, well above the 6.8% announced by the government. Dividend distributions exempt from tax and legal tax evasion deprived the State of EUR 2 billion
recipe. Other billion were drowned in the disastrous acquisition of a couple of submarines. But what in the run sparked the deficit was the inclusion in the BPN debt accounts,
BPP and transport companies deficits. Sooner or later, the debt created by the obsession with
the control of the deficit, eventually returns to the budget.
The alternative is taxation for investment that creates jobs. In Portugal, the proceeds are distributed in relatively similar shares between Labor and Capital, but are
workers for others, through the IRS, and also in consumer condition,
via the VAT, which are at the forefront of state funding. The capital contribution
only 13 percent. The IRC collection is very limited. In a universe of 300 000 firms,
11 companies, the public majority, representing 60% of the collection. In the universe in question,
thousands of firms that do not exist in fact, others are "dormant" and still
tens of thousands of entrepreneurs on their own with the rope in his throat. But also
is the Portuguese banks in 2009, despite hold 4 million profit euros per day,
IRC paid at the effective rate of 4.3%. The tax evasion by law is the preferred instrument of finance capital and the most powerful segments of the professions. The left is strict
against any abuse or fraud in state services, but do not fool on target: Portugal has
a scandalous deficit of fair taxation.
One of the most persistent urban myths is that the left and right spends saves. It's fake. Spenders are spending. In terms of jobs and contracts for works and services
technical advice and assistance, PS and PSD have no rival. The mad program stadiums
90s football, or the frantic road plan that made Portugal a country with more
kilometers of motorway per capita than Germany, are not attributable to the left.
Those two parties built, with economic groups, a powerful web of interests
around the state. Do you really believe that a government that brings together all the latest spenders
decades will put order in the house?

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election commitment. Left bloc in 2011

Even in a tight context, it can be managed with rigor and rights. Take the example
a service as essential as the NHS, where the fruits of the PPP and the costs of private management
several hospitals weigh, but do not explain everything. The accumulated debt is due, above all,
a chronic and transfer public funds to private sector underfunding.
Spending on branded medicines without any advantage to hiring companies
replace medical pushed out of the NHS, systematic use of overtime
to replace professionals in short supply, and the abuse of outsourcing, summarize one management
wasteful. Efficiency, quality and promptness in the NHS are possible retreating on privatization strategies and betting on professional dignity.
A Budget to the service of what is important. The left is in favor of a strategic discussion in Portuguese society over state functions and budget structure that should
support. The rationalization of services, the shortcomings and excesses of workers as well as
their qualification and training deficits should be discussed in this light. Point of view
reforms can only be the quality of service. The left advocates a Social State to
all with responsibilities for all, and focus on personalization of care, monitoring and solutions to the difficulties. This modernization is not cheap: it is demanding in
training and professional commitment to stability of labor relations conversion. With the
economy to grow and fair taxation, the social is financially sustainable.

RENEGOTIATION, INVESTMENT, ACCURACY AND TAX JUSTICE
1. Audit the debt. This measure aims to know in detail the composition of public debt and
Private, your repayment terms and interest rates. Aim: to identify the debt that the State must assume, separating the part that results from speculation, corruption and illegitimate favoritism.
2. debt renegotiation. This measure hit with debt creditors to pay a grace period on the payment of debt service, new deadlines for repayments and new
values ​​for the interest. The renegotiation conditions the fulfillment of state obligations to
output growth capacity.
3. Review of the PPP and military contracts. This measure freezes all payments
excess over the PPP contracts and cancels the cancelable operations, realizing savings
230 million euros in 2011. The renegotiation focuses on models of exploration and interest.
Also the military procurement contracts should be audited and broken if the counterparts are not being performed, or when it detects the existence of gloves, a "cost"
normal in markets where there are few buyers and even fewer manufacturers.

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election commitment. Left bloc in 2011

4. Establishment of a debt redemption fund. This instrument serves as a guarantee for renegotiation and finances with funds from the financial capital. Contribute to this fund
a new tax on urban capital gains resulting from public intervention and even
two new taxes - one on the stock market operations, aggravated in the case of buying derivatives
and speculative products, and another copy of 25% on transfers to havens
tax.
5. A bold policy to capture the national savings. This guidance mobilizes small and medium savings for investment in government bonds with competitive yields and obligations specifically linked to domestic investment projects of interest,
led by state-owned enterprises.
6. To safeguard the public investment. This measure requires the renegotiation of goals for
the deficit by dilating the convergence period until 2016 if the EU does not accept the investment
or public debt interest get left out in the deficit calculation. This position is dealt with
Brussels under the current mechanism of economic coordination.
7. Fiscal Policies to promote employment and domestic demand. This policy involves three
measures: increased corporate tax rate of 10 percent for companies that receive public support, distribute dividends rather than reinvest them; a transitional rate decreased IRC
5 points for enterprises which give up the distribution of dividends and apply their
Profits in hiring permanent workers and improving wage conditions; finally, the creation of a transitional framework of tax advantages to be agreed with the social partners,
that favors the passage of the informal economy to the legal economy, with simultaneous settlement
of workers employed.
8. Capitalize on CGD. This measure aims to provide the public bank of solid capital ratios
enabling it to develop a more favorable lending strategy for SMEs
and job-creating investments.
9. Increased state revenues with Tax Justice: This orientation creates a single tax
on the Heritage, so that the owners of values ​​in stocks and other financial assets will be submitted at a rate equal to the IMI, which now focuses on holders
of real estate. This tax implies an equity registration on which, in cases of
exceptional accumulation also levied a "tax on large fortunes," as a solidarity contribution to support Social Security.
10. Combating corruption. This guidance retrieves the proposal for João Cravinho of law
criminalize illicit enrichment and committed to a legal framework favorable to invest [16]

election commitment. Left bloc in 2011

tion of white-collar crimes with systematic cross-checks and the end of the secret
banking.
11. A culture of rigor. This fixed orientation as maximum salary cap in the administration and
in public companies, the salary of the President of the Republic; eliminates all procedures that constitute advantages and perks for abuse of rank; with the ends
civil governments and transfer its functions to the local authorities and the state; severely limits the legal consultancies and technical assistance; transfers for the NHS conventions
performed by the public sector with private inpatient units; Finally, review the funding to foundations and private entities.
12. base budget zero. This measure stipulates that from 2013, the structure of expenditure should reflect the future priorities of the state, not the trends that come from the past.
This "fiscal revolution" demands in the second half of this year, a major national debate
on the reform and state functions and the type of budget that should support.
13. The state should not skimp on social spending. This guidance replaces the more social support
unfairly removed by PEC's and summed up in one sentence: health, education, science and
in education and in combating poverty, only moves to improve.

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election commitment. Left bloc in 2011

4. CHANGE THE ECONOMY,
CREATE EMPLOYMENT AND WORK DIGNIFY
Excessive debt is not the main problem of Portugal. Lower it is important
because no country can live forever on credit. But the strategic question that concentrates
left the spotlight is another: how to put the economy at the community service? As
generate wealth and employment, distribute fairly and ensure the conditions for the exercise
a demanding citizenship, when the Portuguese productive structure is also based on low
salaries and qualifications in sectors which require a low level of knowledge and
create little added value? Something has changed in this very old picture, but the truth is that
our supply of goods and services continues to focus on areas where international demand is sluggish or, rather, where competition is very strong. Portugal lacks a
profound change in its economy.
When free competition and the currency only serve the strong. The structural weaknesses of the Portuguese economy are understood not disregarding the effects that the deregulation of
world trade is having on actual construction of the European market. When the EU negotiated
China's entry into the World Trade Organization, tariffs on imports fell.
That was good for large European producers and exporters, who obtained access
privileged to the great colossus markets. The fall of the barriers was also great for
Chinese exports due to the unbeatable cost they present. In contrast,
peripheral EU economies accused the pressure which the dependence of raw materials and
overvaluation of the euro have worsened. The protection of social and environmentally sustainable development policies that create jobs, remains essential to the economy.
De-industrialization has been a sweep. Historically comparable to weight loss
of the farming occurs in a much shorter space of time. The absence of a true
industrial policy, able to steer credit and concentrate support exports, explains
of this decline. The Portuguese economic groups are no less responsible. As a rule,
They abandoned the production of tradable goods and chose to specialize in services
financial and protected branches of foreign competition, such as construction, food distribution and the privatization of monopolies in energy and telecommunications.
It was the shadow of the state and under the complicity of governments that the former Portuguese elites
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election commitment. Left bloc in 2011

They continued to play in democracy. Because Portugal can not live only sun and beach, it is
reindustrialisation need to reinvent the countryside and back to fish. None of this is easy, none of this
do as in the past and all this takes time. But it can and must be done.
The "liberalization of the labor market" does not solve aggravates. The troika justifies the "simplex redundancies" and pressure on wages in the name of competitiveness. O
PSD argues exactly the same way when advocates reducing the Single Social Tax
by 4 percentage points, offset by a tax increase. Transfer of the thus-
workers for companies. Devalue the work is the worst way to face the difficulties. It is a policy that disables and reduces the main resource of the country to face the crisis.
The competitiveness of the Portuguese economy is low for a thousand other reasons: the dependence
raw materials, the price of energy and credit, the poor organization of work, and
to the weak link between working hours, vocational training and its financing.
In several of these areas, the state can and should intervene. Just should not go the easy route. Improve social rights with qualifications is the left's response to the attack on the dignity
from work.
The main Portuguese debt is the social debt. According to the most recent data,
Portugal is the third most unequal country in the EU. 5% of higher-income earners 18
times more than 5% lower yields. Behind us only Latvia and Lithuania. The
PEC's not improved things by withdrawing several exceptional support created in 2009. However, inequality is not only corrects or mainly with social support measures.
Indispensable is a fair distribution of incomes policy and an economy to grow.
Portugal has neither one nor the other and needs of both.
The precariousness in labor relations spread to all sections of the population. It was not
coincidence that the demonstrations of 12 March involved people of all ages. Second
Banco de Portugal, 9 out of 10 jobs created are precarious and are unlikely
to become permanent. If we consider the underemployed, the statistics hide,
770,000 people of working age are unemployed. To these add up to almost two million fixed-term or temporary, self-employed and who survives
in the world of the informal economy. Still put tens of thousands of Portuguese who all
year leave the country to seek employment where it exists and half the working population
It is in a precarious situation. Unemployment and job insecurity are the main objectives of
immediate action of a leftist government.
Unemployment and precariousness are the face recession. Both decrease state revenues and
Social Security through taxation and increase spending on social benefits. The effects
indirect are not minor. Uncertainty about the future reduces the levels of household consumption.
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election commitment. Left bloc in 2011

Each euro the most in the income of a poor justice performs, creates demand for merchant and
It gives life to the neighborhood and the village. Every euro taken out to a poor stifles local economy. The power of
purchase of wages and pensions defends the economy.
A contract between the generations employment and for pensions. Portugal has more than two million
of pensioners. Four out of five receive lower reforms to the minimum wage and the situation is even more serious in the case of social pensions, disability and rural regime. Portugal
must respond to two simultaneous challenges: on the one hand, can not give up a strategy
convergence of the lowest pensions to the minimum wage; On the other hand, should not use the
retirement age as a financial sustainability instrument system (working
later up cash more and gets less ...), so as not to further complicate the
access of the young people into the labor market. For the sake of justice, for reasons of renovation
and qualification of the workforce and why we should not resign ourselves to worse future than
This is necessary to change the Social Security funding model. A part of the business contribution to the system should be made proportional to the value they create (GVA) and not
only considering the number of workers they employ but all the value they generate.

EMPLOYMENT, PRECARIOUSNESS AND PURCHASING POWER
The guidelines and measures to conclude this commitment, articulate job creation
the need to change the pattern of specialization of the Portuguese economy. If the first
objective requires measures that address the social emergency reflected in skyrocketing rates
Unemployment, already the second defines a strategy that calls the effort and knowledge of several generations. This is therefore a focused commitment to creating jobs in sectors that can
change our economy. It is also a set of proposals that focus on the role
State and Public Finance in a context of recession. Given the scarcity and price
credit and the absence of significant private investment, the state's role is more decisive
Furthermore. Its job is to defend their investment capacity; make full use of the Structural Funds, most particularly the lines that give access to vocational training, R &
Innovation and local and regional development; and enhance new credit instruments
Caixa Geral de Depósitos, private banks and SMEs. The State is also responsible planning and smart use of fiscal policy to create incentives that favor sectors
productive that interest to the country's future.
The Bloc proposes a set of measures and guidelines for the scription of employment, combat
the precariousness and the defense of purchasing power.

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election commitment. Left bloc in 2011

1. To promote and finance projects in priority areas requalifiquem the Portuguese economy. This policy gives preference to investments and measures to promote the replacement
imports and increase export competitiveness: in transport, especially
for the railroad in the urban mobility networks in power distribution networks, the expansion of broadband throughout the country and also in supporting projects of an industrial nature and
advanced services that are generating high chains of value creation.
2. Explore the natural potential. This policy focus on sustainable exploitation of
fishing and research of marine resources; in reforestation without predation, on the landscape,
biodiversity and diversifying economic activities in rural areas; in supporting the sector
agro-industrial and the creation of a land bank that gives occupation to those who want to plant and
work.
3. Improving access to clean energy and fight our levels of energy dependence
towards the outside. This guidance promotes a deep reform in the energy sector
national, in order to reduce waste and radically renew the distribution network
energy, increase efficiency in production and consumption, and continue to increase the weight of
renewable, correcting the wind expansion model and improving the legal and fiscal framework
for micro-generation.
4. Improve the quality of public services. This guidance sets out the areas where the
State invests above all, organization, training, qualification and accountability of
professionals and caregivers for the quality of care and the individualization of responses that public services should offer. This policy also extends the provision of
individual and collective services for the elderly and in health, in areas as critical to the welfare of patients and their families, such as rare diseases, neurodegenerative and
dementia.
5. A national program of urban renewal and energy efficiency. This measure has
designed to recover 200 thousand dilapidated houses, creating 60,000 jobs
direct, with corresponding impacts on the economy. It is inseparable from an active policy
in favor of a rental market that includes the creation of a Housing Case for
fires at controlled prices
6. The right to full retirement after 40 years of contributions. This measure not only honor
working lives. It is also the most powerful means that Portuguese society has
to open labor markets to new generations.

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election commitment. Left bloc in 2011

The precariousness fighting measures
7. Fight against job insecurity. This guidance supports the integration of all the false green receipts and forward contracts in business and in the state for which they work, as
It is claimed by the popular legislative initiative that followed the demonstrations of March 12.
8. For a decent state in labor relations. This guidance puts an end to the stages not
paid, creates framework positions for researchers eternally dependent on grants
and extends the right to social protection to all professionals and fellows stages, through a
favorable and limited specific measures in time.
9. For the regularization of atypical work. This policy guarantees to seasonal workers or
punctual, to receive unemployment benefits, which does not lose this right in the remaining months of the
year for having found a one-off job. It creates the figure of the Agreement-Student,
for young people in training working up to 50 days or 400 hours per year. This new
figure ensures the allocation of 11 percent discount on social security between the young
the employer.

To defend the purchasing power
10. Salary National Minimum 600 euros in 2013. The state must be uncompromising in defense
the agreement reached between the social partners.
11. Replacement rights. The State must conduct the annual revaluation of the retirement and pensions, especially the lower, ending the freeze in place. The same approach should be followed in relation to the Civil Service. Likewise should be revised
Decisions retired social support (unemployment benefit, child benefit, RSI, action
social and school support, user fees in health) under the SGP.
12. Everyone should have access to minimum water and electricity services. Must be guaranteed to
households most vulnerable in situations of extreme poverty and family members unemployed, minimum levels of consumption of water and electricity, as part of a model of rates
makes up for this social support with the penalty of excessive consumption.
13. Quality food at affordable prices. This guidance sets out the support of the principle of
State the certification of networks, storage and marketing for food products
the local markets. Protecting the interests of farmers in the face of central purchasing, the State guarantees thus affordable quality in local and regional circuits.
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election commitment. Left bloc in 2011

This is the commitment of the Left Bloc in this election. A left
reliable, fighting for workers and the retired, the young and the unemployed. The left that is committed to the defense of democracy
responsible against abuse, energetic against bankruptcy and mobilized against
injustice. Save the economy to create jobs and tackle precariousness and
Poverty is our reason.

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