Ventriloquists dictate policies in Portugal

With the ongoing economic crisis, Portugal's government is introducing one austerity plan after the next. Manuel António Pina asks in the daily Jornal de Notícias who really has the say in the country: "The majority of people in Portugal probably don't have the vaguest idea who Olli Rehn is. But they should, because this EU Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs and talented ventriloquist manages to make our government speak from Brussels. When [Finance Minister] Teixeira dos Santos or Prime Minister [Sócrates] announce 'measures' they are really just moving their lips, because Olli Rehn is the one who's really speaking. But in fact the whole thing is really like Russian dolls, because both the EU Commission and Olli Rehn are also only moving their lips. Through them speaks the voice of the 'market', or more precisely: the banking system and the profiteers."

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