Gianni Pittella: the Portuguese ‘contraption’ cannot be exported abroad
After losing the European Parliament elections, Gianni Pittella is focused on winning the 2019 elections through a new progressive alliance - yet, he believes the 'contraption' model isn't exportable.
In his interview to ECO, the leader of the European socialists, Gianni Pittella, stated he doesn’t believe it is possible for countries like Portugal to have debt pardon, although he agrees there is the need to mutualize it by issuing eurobonds. In addition, he stated that “the European Parliament approved a requirement aiming for the mutualization of the debt”. Pittella also made a point to state that the issue is not fiscal pardon, but the way debt will be paid for: “We should focus on revising the strategies to do so”.
"We are here discussing the possibility of mutualizing the national debts, this is not an issue of the debt.”
Gianni Pittela also acknowledges the Portuguese experience with the ‘contraption’ — the Parliamentary coalition between the center-left Socialist Party (PS) and the Left Block (BE) and the Communist Party (PCP) — has had many positive outcomes for the Portuguese citizens. However, the Portuguese contraption model “cannot be exported abroad simply because each country has its owns characteristics, meaning, we cannot reproduce that model in a different political context.
Regardless of that point of view, the leader of the European socialists and democrats group reveals his aim to build a new progressive alliance within the European Union for the 2019 elections — although that model failed during the elections for presidency in the European Parliament, allowing for the three main European Union institutions to be in the hands of the European People’s Party.
"I’m here looking at the 2019 election and, at the sight of this goal, I want to somehow forge a new progressive alliance. An European platform to be shared with European leaders and forces, and also with social actors. ”
Finally, Gianni Pittela adds that solving the European banking problems, which has high levels of NPL, is up to national government, who should discuss the best solution to solve them with the European Union. “I believe, however, that the governments are not given enough time to implement the solution plans for their non-performing loans”.
