Portugal Government in Vote Crisis
Mar 23 - Portugal's PM is threatening to resign if austerity measures are rejected in Wednesday's vote, potentially forcing the country's hand to seek an international bailout. Ciara Sutton reports

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Portugal Braces for Government Collapse
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: LISBON, Portugal—Portugal's government could collapse Wednesday after opposition parties withdrew their support for another round of austerity policies aimed at averting a financial bailout.

The expected defeat of the minority government's latest spending plans in a parliamentary vote will likely force its resignation and could stall national and European efforts to deal with the continent's protracted debt crisis.

The vote comes on the eve of a two-day European Union summit where policy makers are hoping to take new steps to restore investor faith in the fiscal soundness of the 17-nation euro zone, including Portugal.

Last year, both Greece and Ireland had to accept massive rescue packages after markets lost faith in their governments' efforts to deal with their debt burdens.

The political tension fueled a rise in Portugal's borrowing rates, just as it is trying to cut spending. The yield on the country's 10-year bond, for example, was up to 7.57%Tuesday—just shy of its euro-era record level. The interest rate has been above 7% for several weeks despite the government's earlier austerity measures that, its political rivals say, failed to quell investor fears.

As in Greece, the austerity policies—including tax hikes and pay cuts—have prompted an outcry from trade unions and numerous demonstrations and strikes. Train engineers walked off the job during the morning commute Wednesday, causing widespread travel disruption.

By most measures, Portugal is one of the euro zone's smallest and feeblest economies but its financial collapse would likely trigger a fresh bout of nerves over other debt-heavy—and bigger—euro countries such as Spain, Belgium and Italy.

"Portugal seems very likely to become the third … eurozone country to need a bailout," Emilie Gay, European economist at Capital Economics, said. » | Associated Press | Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Generalísimo Francisco Franco Is Still Dead – And His Statues Are Next: Socialist Government Banishes Fascist Icons Though Nostalgia for the Dictator Lives On
Photo of General Franco courtesy of Google Images
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: MADRID -- Every Nov. 20, for the past dozen years, Sinforiano Bezanilla has visited a pigeon-covered statue of Gen. Francisco Franco to pay homage to Europe's longest-serving fascist dictator.

This year, the sculpture won't be there. Acting on a law passed by Spain's Socialist government, authorities uprooted the statue of the Generalísimo in December from the city square of Santander in northern Spain and banished it to the local museum.

"The left is attempting to rewrite our country's history. They base it on a series of half-lies, half-truths and outright lies," says Mr. Bezanilla. The 44-year-old municipal worker was just 11 when Franco died. But he has read volumes on the former dictator's ideas and is nostalgic for his regime.

More than three decades after Franco died and 72 years after he seized power, Spain is on a controversial mission to expunge the many emblems of its painful past that are still on public display.

The Socialist government says the assorted icons of the Franco regime still on view -- fascist-style eagles, yokes and arrows -- have no place in modern Spain. A year ago, it passed a law to eliminate them.

But the drive -- part of a broader law aimed at redressing Franco-era injustices -- has raised hackles among conservatives who say Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is reopening wounds they say were healed after the dictator's death. >>> By Thomas Catan | Monday, March 2, 2009

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