The problem of reforms: methodological issues

The professor of the law faculty at the University of Lisbon, on the verge of retirement, believes that the ruling coalition government should focus not only on the demands for a welfare state but also recognize that the demands for the rule of law and democracy must take precedence over these.

The times of João II of Portugal are long gone, when the king strolled along the banks of the Taedus, telling several justice ministers accompanying him on horseback to run. "We don't know how to run, except after thieves." The king replied jokingly, "Then run after each other." Father Manuel Bernardes, New Forest, 1706. After encountering the first obstacle from the government (which Parliament is already demanding a report on), which could have been easily avoided from the start if the winning coalition in the March 10 elections had officially reached an agreement with the Liberal Initiative, it is important to move on to the main issue, because there is "very little time." And the main issue cannot and must not, under any circumstances, be "submissions": lowering taxes, increasing salaries (for various professional categories), raising pensions, or abolishing tolls on road charges. All of this is simple, even if it has a "cost" or requires patient negotiations. The main issue for both the government and the country, as well as for the parties supporting the government and the opposition parties, is the unfulfilled reforms.

In the last thirty years, there have only been two instances of a certain impulse for reform (from 2005 to 2009 and from 2011 to 2015). For the rest of the time, there has been over 20 years of stagnation, as noted by the last three governments of the Socialist Party, which specifically not only avoided "talk of reforms" but also did not include any significant reforms in their successive Government programs, complicating the situation by immediately retracting those that were in the 2015 election program.

Since there has been so much left undone and so much to correct over these more than 20 years, there is already some consensus regarding the areas that require necessary intervention (as is the case with justice and corruption), taking into account the hereditary characteristics of the country and the consequences of the cartelization of the party system. The question I am interested in exploring is the method that should be applied for this.

FIRST SENTENCE

With the same concern, at the moment of taking office of the XXIV Constitutional Government, the President of the Republic, in his (by the way, excellent) speech, after emphasizing that in the area of structural reforms there needs to be even more "broad discussion" and that "in democracy there are always solutions," found it necessary to add the following: "The classic, Friar Manuel Bernardes, wrote in the late 17th century a work titled 'Divided Bread into Small Pieces.' In relation to this situation, it means: the problem is broken down into several smaller ones and solved one by one, without losing the overall perspective; yes, all this may not be sensational in these times of great emotions, passions, and cravings for instant sensations; but it could be a path with the potential for achievements; the Portuguese win if, following this or that path, the Prime Minister can align with the votes cast for the leading coalition, and even for many others who did not cast their votes, if both agree that they have succeeded, because it will benefit everyone." In other words, understanding the complexity of the government's tasks, both in urgent measures and in addressing budget or legal environment issues, the President of the Republic deemed it appropriate to propose a method that could be inspired by the work written by Brother Manuel Bernardes (a work whose first edition dates back to 1695, which has been published and reissued several times in the following centuries, except for the 21st century). The proposal was made and did not go unnoticed, as did the impression, particularly in the media.

However, despite the intention, the idea may raise some doubts. On one hand, because the title of the book (according to my copy, in the collection organized and with a preface by Augusto César Pires de Lima, according to the 1698 edition, in the 3rd corrected and expanded edition by Bertino Dasianno, Porto, Editorial Domingos Barreira, 1961) is "Divided Bread - For Small Houses: A Brief Spiritual Composition, in which the believer is instructed on the main principles of faith and good morals," the "small" referred to by our well-known writer and mystic pertains to "rough people" who do not have the necessary books. In other words, from the title of the book, it does not seem that the term "small" is applicable in relation to the division of a unit (whatever it may be), and this seems rather unsuitable for the work, as it is dedicated to instructions of a spiritual nature, rather than another topic. On the other hand, if the title is such, then the content of the work (corresponding to the first part of volume II of the Treatises of our great orator, whose satirical dimension is no less known) mainly concerns a series of instructions (in the form of dialogue) given by a religious figure to a layperson about faith and good deeds, followed by a sort of appendix (a translation into Spanish of a vision of 16th-century asceticism without shoes) and concluding with a series of meditations on the "Last Things" of man (death, judgment, hell, and heaven). All of this encourages us to follow an alternative path.

ANOTHER WAY

Although there were clear points of contact, an alternative path was proposed to Vasco Pulido Valente in May 2018 (on page 22 of the special anniversary issue of this newspaper).