maschamba

Nao vi o tal video mas queria comentar para esclarecer a visao des finlandeses sobre Portugal embora noto que alguns assuntos repetem o que déjà foi dito.Sou finlandesa expatriada, conheco Portugal um pouco como passei la alguns meses e falo portugues. Perdoe-me mas em frente de ilustres leitores prefero expressa-me em ingles.First, it would be better not to confuse the views of ONE PARTY in Finland (Perussuomalaiset PS, which has been translated as True Finns though I would translate their name as nationalist Finns or fundamental Finns) with those of the FINNISH POPULATION in general or the Finnish government. This populist party gained more power and popularity only very recently, in the parliamentary elections in April 2011, they are not the biggest party but there are others with similar support ratings. They (PS) could be seen as a protest vote to many inaction or dissatisfactory action of the previous government; be viewed as having conservative values (EU sceptic, against immigration). Actually, many of their members are less educated and some xenophobics are bordering pure racism.As much as their popularity rose, there is also a strong opposition and dislike towards them, including like me.Second, as much as there are Finnish people against the bailout to Portugal there are also people supporting it, me including.Third, for us Finns, it is not a question of merely Portugal (after Greece and Ireland). Portugal here epitomizes potentially Italy and Spain, ie all Mediterranean countries which are feared to be the next, bailing out as a continuum. Thus, they (PS) are worried that it will be a never-ending process.However, there are issues which should be understood.Finland has a small economy, a very limited job market and it is very vulnerable for global trends. It is not many years ago, the financial situation there was dire. Finland is a relatively recent member in the EU. By nature, we like to abide laws. In the EU, we have been diligent and applied and adopted all EU rules and regulations (often to our own loss) while we have seen others acting completely unscrupulously without any control. In particular, the Mediterranean countries have been seen as careless money spenders, with a tendency to show-off and luxury.As Greece, Portugal also has a glorious past indeed, that nobody can deny but where is its glorious present? Functional illiteracy is high, state school system sucks, judicial system is completely unreliable (who wishes to open a court case to get some justice?) and ordinary people have difficulties in surviving with their ordinary salaries.However the Forbes list of the world’s richest people illustrates many Portuguese individuals. How did they end there while others are languishing in poverty? As written above, where are Portuguese innovations? Where is Portuguese information society? How has Portugal taken advantage of its glorious past?In contrast, Finland is not a significant country in the world, we did not have any colonies to extract resources, on the contrary we were colonized for centuries by our neighbours who denied us government jobs, the use of our own language, who stole parts of our country etc. Our climate is harsh (note AL, it is tough:)) which makes it difficult to produce food. We live modestly and rose from absolute poverty only due to our hard work and widespread and high quality public education (a propos, which is by law free up to the university level to anybody even today). In the past, we have been snubbed by various leaders of these EU countries who curiously are now in need of financial backup.So all the odds were against us. And it is these contrasts which induce the supporters of PS to act against the bailout to Portugal. I see their reasoning, share some views with them but I drew a completely different conclusion regarding the bailout.In my opinion, it is time to open the can of worms and the Portuguese to admit that Portugal does not have the leadership it requires. Portugal needs new political leaders and new type of leaders, more integrity and sincere interest for the development of the entire country to bring back its glory.In conclusion, I don’t see this as a match between Finland and Portugal, for us Finns it is a question of principle, how the decisions and rules in the EU are abode or non abode (which lead to the bailout Greece, Ireland and in the future Portugal, possibly Spain and Italy). But for Portugal, I think there is an urgent need for fresh air in Portuguese politics. You deserve it.