Wastage in public services

Columnist Teresa de Sousa believes that one of Portugal's major problems is its waste of EU funds. "The way we use the next batch of European funds will be decisive...if we are to revive the Portuguese economy's development model and not drift away from Europe as we have been doing for five years. ... Taking the example of total expenditure on education, we see an obviously high level of waste. According to the OECD, Portugal devoted 5.9% of its GDP to education, compared to Spain's 4.9%, France's 6%, and 7.3% in the US. The conclusion is that public services are dreadfully inefficient, not because they lack resources, but because they are not rational or efficient, and do not set objectives."

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