The centre-left Socialist Party (PS) in that is currently in power won an outright majority in the January 2022 snap election. The risk of political stability in Portugal increased after 11 ministers and state secretaries resigned in late 2022. However, the absolute majority of the Socialist Party in Parliament should ensure its permanence in power until 2026.
Economic activity in Portugal in 2022 was moderate, with this trend expected to continue well into 2023. Growth was held back, however, by high rates of inflation, with a bearing on consumers’ purchasing power, monetary policy tightening and interest rates rising across the Eurozone. Disturbances in supply chains, high energy prices and rising interest rates have resulted in a decline in Portugal’s GDP.
In 2022, Portugal witnessed the worsening of its structural problems at all levels. Portugal has one of the most aged populations in Europe, with a population of working age that represents 63.8% of the total population. It has been predicted that by 2050, according to the United Nations, Department of Economic & Social Affairs and the World Population Perspectives (the 2022 revision), the elderly population of Portugal will hit 34.28%. The problem of having an aging population is serious. The total absence of policies that encourage births among the indigenous population, the mentality that encourages abortion and the encouragement of mass immigration all exacerbate the ongoing problems and create newer problems still. The number of foreigners in the Portugal has already exceeded 750,000, a number that is set to only increase, alongside the ever-present social problems that immigration policies pushed without any kind of planning entail.
Portugal, therefore, had ended 2022 in a situation that is not particularly encouraging. It is a country that is increasingly dependent and subservient to the outside world and where the lives of its citizens are rapidly losing a good quality of life. In this context, Força Nova undertook several actions in order to awaken consciences in the face of the problems mentioned above, as well as actions against the systematic attack on freedom of thought in Europe, where legal organisations – elected political parties with regional, national and European representation – are made to be victims of the liberal war against freedom itself. Actions were organised at the embassies of Italy and Greece in order to underline the urgency of the releasing of nationalist political prisoners, actions against the destruction of collective memory and also against the United Nations’ pact on migration. Força Nova saw in 2022 a year of strong propaganda dissemination (predominantly through many collages of posters) that covered the most crucial themes and problems that Portugal faces today – immigration, LGBT propaganda and its presence in public schools, malicious organisations that dominate the democratic state, the dictatorship of political correctness, the destruction of national symbols and many other problems.
Over the course of 2022, Força Nova had also strengthened its bonds with other European counterparts through various meetings held in different European capitals. Nevertheless, Força Nova will not be oblivious to the effects of the pressures that are reflected across the nationalist spectrum, having been obliged, more recently, to restructure its organs. This process has proven to take longer than initially anticipated, as a result of the social and political pressures that exist on the nationalist spirit today. Força Nova is, therefore, currently focused on its own restructuring and on the study of new forms of struggle that can maintain the privilege and honour that is fighting for our freedom.
ETN Guest Writer: Alexandre Santos (Portugal)
