Politics is not that easy

The South of Europe is still recovering from the aftermath of Greek general elections in which a brand new political party has risen as the ultimate solution to the country crisis. Alexis Tsipras’s SIRIZA has won all but two seats to obtained an absolute majority government. Measures have been swift and reactions for and against them have followed subsequently. The average Greek citizen celebrates the new anti-austerity policy, the rejection to talk with the Troika or at least the intention of renegotiating the national debt with Europe. But things are not so straightforward. Inverstors have escaped with their money to more stable markets and minor savers are afraid of a national restriction of their own savings. In the long run, if the new hellenic government, apart from persecuting corruption and limiting the overenrichment of high public posts, doesn’t assure relaxing fiscal and tax conditions to millionaires and big companies, they will probably move to a countries with more beneficial conditions. No investments, no industry and no jobs.

In Spain people is eagerly waiting for the general election of November with the hope that Pablo Iglesias’s Podemos will turn over the extremely corrupted practices of the two traditional strong parties, PP and PSOE. The new political group will also try to revert the destruction of working posts, reduce the debt and cut down on the inmense economical abyss between rich and poor people, among other popular measures like guaranteeing the national health service and the quality of public education, both now into question thanks to current Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his fantastic decrees born out of the absolute majority that the Popular Party has in the government.

But the same as in Greece is about to happen here. If the new measures are too strangulating por the powerful, they will go to new paradises. Maybe the system is bound to accept a certain degree of enrichment for the priviledged, some corruption but not too much. What I’m saying is terrible, but down-to-earth nations work like that. Until the very rich aren’t inmensely rich again, the average person won’t notice any improvement in his daily economy. As I heard once in prison –not as an inmate, I must remark–, “Some quantity of drug is not that bad within. It makes addicts tranquil and not very nervous.”

Another question is the result of the would-be new ministers from Podemos in the future. We don’t know if they will limit to run the country or will do just as everyone else: introduce the hand in the safe and retire some public funds for personal use. Only time, and maybe George Orwell’s Animal Farm will tell. From the time being, there are now three major parties in the surveys and two of them will have to pact to make a coalition government. Perhaps the traditional close enemies on the right (PP) and on the left (PSOE)? In any case, what is still incredible in Spain is that the party in the government, after so many flops and dishonest behaviour, is the first option for the majority of voters. They must have a lot of extended family.