Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of the main challenges and risks the Portuguese welfare system has faced since the onset of the financial crisis of 2008, and of the reforms that have been implemented, particularly after the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), in May 2011, with the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
First, we examine demographic trends in Portugal, often mentioned as a primary challenge to economic policy that calls for social security reform, emphasizing their relationship with the working of the economy and social policy. Next, we discuss the diagnosis of the present crisis adopted by the European Union institutions, which considers that the public debt crisis was the outcome of government fiscal indiscipline and current account imbalances were due to “structural rigidities”. This diagnosis has helped to legitimate fiscal consolidation and “internal devaluation” policies imposed on Portugal and on other peripheral countries of the Eurozone. We argue that the origin of the present crisis is better explained by macroeconomic imbalances prevailing within the Eurozone. Then, we outline the adverse consequences of austerity policies pursued as regards the functioning of the economy, the aggravation of demographic trends, the financial imbalances of social security, and the shaping of social policy. Finally, we analyze with more detail the main challenges, risks and policy responses undertaken in the period under analysis in the fields of labour market, pensions, health, long-term care, family and children.
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Notes
- 1.
The European Social Survey (wave 2008) has addressed several questions that permit the highlighting the main attitudes of the Portuguese population on some basic questions relevant to this subject. When inquired about the opinion about the role of the state in relevant areas of social policy, it is observed that, just before the emergence of the crisis (2008), the Portuguese were not satisfied with the government action, but strongly agreed that the government has strong responsibilities in the guarantee of social rights in several relevant domains: health care, child care and family support and, as well on policies addressed to the elderly.
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Pereirinha, J.A., Murteira, M.C. (2016). The Portuguese Welfare System in a Time of Crisis and Fiscal Austerity. In: Schubert, K., de Villota, P., Kuhlmann, J. (eds) Challenges to European Welfare Systems. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07680-5_26
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