Saturday, 7 November 2015

Is the iceberg melting or does it continue to pose a threat to sink the Socialist-communist-radical Bloc´s agreement?

 António Costa desparately trying to forged an agreement 
with arch-enemies, the marxists and leninists
Francisco Assis, against a socialist pact with the radical left 


In an opinion article published in the online edition of the newspaper Publico, 
the former Socialist parliamentary leader, 
after a long introduction where he speaks of the points that touch the extreme-left 
and the far right, and the disadvantages that this have 
to "exercise prudential, reformist gradualism, "
Assis writes about the Portuguese case.

He starts by criticizing those who defend a governing solution 
"rooted in a parliamentary agreement between the PS and the far-left parties". 
Justifying the good intentions of such an option by the need to address radicalization 
of the right and to ensure the defense of the welfare state. 
Its thesis is simple and clear: right-wing parties, 
tended toward an extremist position 
and the far left starts to show availability 
for a useful interaction with the center-left. "

Assis, claims that within this thesis 
"lies a mix of innocence and superstition" because 
"neither the Portuguese right suddenly became extremists, 
nor did the extreme left suddenly became a model of open moderate pragmatism ". 
Therefore, the position of Francisco Assis is very clear 
and based on the answer to this question:

"Would it be easier to attract the right, 
in the name of the European consensus based on social market economy, 
in line with positions in the defense of the welfare state, 
or sensitize the far left to the merits of a paradigm based on 
the balance between the market, representative democracy 
and a Social State  a promoter of dignity 
 but which does not take away any resposiblity of individual effort? "

For the MEP (member of the european parliament) 
the answer is clear: there is more common ground between the PS and PSD, 
than between the PS and the PCP and the Left Bloc. 
It seems obvious that what joins the center-left to the center-right, 
is much broader than that which separates the far left from the center-left. 
Anyone who thinks this way can only take a critical stance
 on the possibility of achieving a parliamentary agreement between the PS, BE and PCP. 
Who thinks otherwise will naturally tend to rejoice with such understanding. "

Unsurprisingly Francisco Assis is against the idea of the Socialists 
forming a government, supported by an agreement on the left, 
but in these days when everything can happen, the MEP, reaffirms defending 
- and will continue to defend within the party - 
and leaves a warning to the PS. 
"I consider most appropriate to the national interest, 
the existence of a governing solution in which the right becomes dependent 
on the PS´s positions, to any another where the PS 
becomes a hostage of the moods, the whims, the strategies and the tacticisms 
of the far-left parties. 
This is what is the real issue, and it is about this issue that we should pronounce. 
For my part, I will certainly attend this debate 
that I consider of the utmost importance for the future of the country and the PS."

Assis compared the agreement between the PS, the PCP and the BE, to an iceberg. 
This agreement is the visible part of the iceberg. 
The iceberg is a small part that is visible 
but the part that is invisible 
is the most crucial and is usually the one that causes the greatest disasters. 

For the socialist, 
it is the "invisible part" that does more harm 
when it comes to the unreconciliable differences 
between socialists, communists and the radical  blocs 
on "core matters such as an economic policy, 
the realistic design of an economic and social model, an economic policy 
and a conception of what should be the European project" . 
Francisco Assis said: "The argument of those who support this understanding, 
is that we will set aside these deeper differences." 
However, this invisible part 
"is there and will be there forever."



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