A Strange Month of Portugal
Joana Mateus*
What do you call elections where more than 50% of the electorate abstains? A true sign that democracy is alive and kicking. For the the first time in the history of the EU, 25 countries voted in what appeared to be a unique and highly important moment for Europe. It has, after all, just welcomed 10 new members and seeks consolidation and identity. But if there was anything the European ballot casting was good for was to show home leaders and politicians all over Europe how dead in the water they really are and how strong a statement abstention and euroskepticism really make.
In Portugal, just as much as in the rest of the EU, the suffrage was a true vote of protest against the centre right government coalition led by Prime Minister Durao Barroso and against a bleak, invisible European endeavour. Left wing parties, from the socialist party to the communists had their best results in thirty years and the Bloco de Esquerda elected its first ever MP, Miguel Portas.
With abstention ruling the game in all of EU, Portugal was no exception. Blame it on a national holiday and a hot weekend of sun and soccer at the beginning of the Euro 2004 championship. European elections were the last thing on young voters’ minds and for older ballot casters there were no trustworthy politicians in the run to even bother leaving the house.
The arguments that kept the Portuguese at home or on the beach are not necessarily new but the shoe, unfortunately, still fits. Lack of information and sheer disengagement are the main culprits. Europe is deemed an amalgama of faceless Eurocrats that no one sees, no one hears, no one knows about. For Iberia's smaller country the European dream is a myth, an invention, a concept that can move MP’s but means virtually nothing to voters. In that sense it is impossible to keep up or even nurture a European dream. How can you dream about what you don’t know, how do you believe in what you don’t see?
The Portuguese have a saying that summarises their general feeling towards Europe - “Out of sight, out of mind”. And frankly, politicians are not too keen on showing the Portuguese otherwise. Anyone who followed the campaign closely could not avoid being taken aback by such an inconsistent display of intentions, thin political plans and mainly by the true absence of any references to Europe as a common project. It was rather presented as a set of disengaged rules put out by a less than palpable union of rulers.
In campaign speech, Europe was either something we must submit to because we have no other choice and cannot exist outside of it, or the big bad monster who has come to take our independence away, killing our agriculture and fishing industry in the process.
Instead of clarifying ideas, the campaign was based on personal insults and private attacks that culminated with the death of Sousa Franco, the Socialist candidate deemed to win the elections, during an internal Socialist party fight at a fish market. Very little if anything was done to bring Europe to people, to show them realistically what they are voting for and why it matters. And in a country hit by its worst recession in years, who really cares about Europe, its enlargement and the constitution? Unemployment doesn’t show signs of stopping and the minimum wage stands at 350 Euros a month. To the Portuguese that hits home a lot faster than who will sit in Strasbourg in the coming years.
To get a feel for what the Portuguese know or don't know about Europe, you can start by asking any person off a voting pole a couple of simple questions, like where the European parliament has its home or how many MP’s Portugal has. The answer is generally a mixed up "i'm not sure." Asked why they thought the elections were important, most people said, "because we can’t really do anything without them anymore. They rule the roost don’t they?" Now that is certianly not the answer of an engaged, enthusiatic believer in the European project is it? It's more like the shrug of shoulders of David admiting he can never win Goliath so he might as well join him.
In this sense, the rise of euroskepticism is actually a great wake up call for Europe. It may see its first real opposition taking place. And as dangerous as the blows delved onto the project by these radical parties might be, they may also serve to revive Europe, to shake it from its numbness, to show what it must do to prove itself worthy of people’s real attention, once and for all.
People did not just vote or abstain to complain irresponsibly. They voted or abstained to let their rulers know they are not being taken seriously. Like children parents don’t really bother explaining anything to, Europe has taken itself for granted and stopped justifying its existence to its very own citizens. Only Europeans are not children, not even adolescents anymore. And they need answers. So they protest the only way they can, the way that opens eyes, the radical way. Although it is important to learn internal lessons from national votes, for the general picture it matters little if the vote was on the right or left. What matters is that radical, euroskeptic votes happened. And that says more about insecurity and discontent than anything else. European voters are not apathic. They, more than anyone, have their finger on the pulse of Europe and don't like to be left out. To anyone who thinks abstention meant apathy, think again. Voters need to be spoken to. They have just spoken to Europe. Shouted at it, in fact. Democracy may not be so dead after all.
Lisbon, June 23rd 2004
* Joana Mateus is a Portuguese journalist and has been collaborating with Vision in several projects on Europe. She has worked for Diario Economico and Diario Digital newspapers in Lisbon since 1999. Joana completed a Masters in International Journalism at the City University in London in 2003, where she lived for past 2 years. She interned at The Guardian newspaper and collaborates with the music website Soundgenerator.com based in London. She is now a staff journalist at the Associated Press news agency in Lisbon, where she lives.
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