Austerity bites Portugal as much as Greece. Why no populist movement?

[unhappycamper]

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2015/0810/Austerity-bites-Portugal-as-much-as-Greece.-Why-no-populist-movement



Many in Portugal have seen businesses close and savings disappear. Yet in the October election, there won't be a Syriza or Podemos to back.

Austerity bites Portugal as much as Greece. Why no populist movement?
By Sara Miller Llana, Staff writer August 10, 2015

Porto, Portugal — At the height of Portugal’s economic crisis, Fernando Fernandes was forced to close seven of the 10 clothing stores he spent his life building – working so hard he missed the birth of his first son.

But when he found out he lost nearly half of his life savings last year, after Banco Espirito Santo collapsed, he took to the streets.

“You are liars,” he yells into a megaphone on a recent day, camped outside a bank branch of the newly formed Novo Banco, where he and 10 others say that they were duped into a shady investment plan and left defenseless. “You should be ashamed!” yells another. Their anger is clear, and it is directed at the bank, the ruling classes of Portugal, and Europe.

Yet when Mr. Fernandes casts his ballot on Oct. 4 in Portugal’s general election, he'll have no anti-austerity, anti-EU party to register his frustration. A competitive one doesn’t exist.