Nº 26 – If my name were António Costa…

Thursday, the 30th Abril 2020

An Essay  by Theobald Tiger

… some decisions would be made very differently. I spent a long time wondering whether I should start my story this way, or whether I should tell you this story at all. Because I can also do things very differently. So, I’d better start again and keep it short.

If I were not a journalist, but instead a responsible prime minister, I would have spent these last few days thinking intensely about whether I should even be distributing state financial aid to sick companies at this point. This is a question of principle. Everyone has problems and we don’t have enough money to solve all the problems at once. This is precisely what creates inequality and leads to unfair policy decisions. One receives, the other doesn’t. Why not?

A government has other tasks. It should govern and spend as little money as possible – and, if it does spend, then this money should guarantee us stability and take away our existential fears. That would be a first premise. Yes, I am a fan of Unconditional Basic Income, because it offers every citizen the basis for survival. It guarantees dignity, freedom and independence: for workers and artists, permanent staff and freelancers. And UBI is fair, because the same sum benefits everyone equally. It doesn’t have to be much. It’s funny that, at this point in the crisis in which Portugal, Europe and the whole world now find themselves, no governing politician is thinking about the needs and worries of those on whose behalf they engaged in politics in the first place.

Politicians should shape things and take action and not merely spend their time identifying and dealing with problems. Politicians should also pay particular attention to ensuring that these problems do not arise in the first place. I wouldn’t participate in TAP any more either. On the contrary, the Costa government should have sold its remaining 50% shareholding years ago. If my name were Costa… Anyone who is a major shareholder in TAP runs the risk of a real conflict of interest. You don’t build a highly controversial new airport in Montijo and, at the same time, hold a 50% share in the country’s airline, when you don’t have any money in the till anyway. A government should be very careful to act fairly and remain above things. David Neeleman is an entrepreneur, so let him do his own business. Instead, take the money and invest it in the railways, which belong to all of us, and to the State. This is where the money would be really well spent. Modernise the Portuguese railway system, make it more efficient, and let it take us once more to those places it used to go to – to Bragança, Beja and Serpa. And create the necessary high- speed rail links between Faro and Seville, Évora and Madrid, Porto and the rest of Europe. Let’s make Portugal fit for the future now. Invest now in renewable energies and in our own electric mobility. The Portuguese railway company is a jewel. By the way: you can also earn money with it.

Now is the time to give the right impetus for a sustainable economy. Think about how much money you want to, and can, spend. Let’s stop getting into senseless debt, take the money from the taxes and invest it for the benefit of all. No more support for banks, no more subsidies for fossil fuels, no more money for a new airport that we don’t need anyway. Instead, give the money to sustainable infrastructure measures: solar plants for all schools, hospitals, police stations and army barracks – for all town halls; solar plants for the parliament and even for the presidential palace. And take from me also wind farms and hydraulic power plants. Sun, wind and water run by themselves and almost for free. Or, to put it simply: invest your money only in Portugal’s future viability and stop pouring it into the loss-making ventures of yesterday’s economy. Make one of the building bricks and don’t do it by halves. That, incidentally, also creates new jobs. By the way, my name is not António Costa, but Theobald Tiger. Free advice.