Portuguese Protestors Mock President’s Pension Lament By “Donating” Food & Spare Change

By: EW News Desk Team   Date: 26 January 2012

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26 January 2012

Hundreds of protestors gathered outside Portugal’s presidential palace on Tuesday to leave a collection of food and loose change at its gates for the country’s “poor” president, after Anibal Cavaco Silva complained to reporters last week about a drop in his pension due to the government’s austerity measures.

Protesters outside the 18th century palace in Lisbon held out hats and collected coins, milk, rice and bread for Cavaco Silva, mocking the president with the slogan: “A penny for Cavaco.”

At the same time, more than 33,000 Portuguese had already signed an online petition asking the 72-year-old conservative president to step down with most commentators believing that Cavaco Silva’s comments had showed a lack of sensitivity to the plight of his people.

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The President, whose role is largely ceremonial in the country, had told reporters last week that the 1,300 euro ($1,704) monthly pension he expected to receive from his time as a university professor “won’t be enough to cover my costs.”

While the president may have waived his presidential salary after being elected for a second term a year ago, he still has a monthly income of around 10,000 euro, as indicated in his tax return forms last year. The average retired Portuguese receives a pension of just 400 euros a month while the average monthly wage is around 1,000 euros and shrinking.

As such, his comments have sparked an outrage among Portuguese citizens who face pay and pension cuts as part of a 78 billion euro international bailout deal for Western Europe’s poorest country.

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“The country lost its president at a time when it needs him the most,” said Joao Marcelino, director of the Diario de Noticias newspaper, as quoted by the Global Post.

Though the president has apologised, claiming that was he was trying to share in the average citizens’ pain while admitting that he “had not been sufficiently clear” in his pension comments, his comments are unlikely to be forgiven or forgotten any time soon.

“If the petition has no other impact, maybe it will at least show to our politicians that the Portuguese are beginning to protest a bit more and to make their opinions known,” said Nuno Luís Marreiros, the man who started the online petition, as cited by Euronews.


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