“You see great things from the valley; and only little things from above ”(Gilbert Chesterton). It all depends on the perception of each of them, necessarily conditioned by the context in which they are inserted. Transparency International’s June 2021 Global Corruption Barometer, which surveyed more than 40,000 people in 27 European countries, shows that corruption in Portugal has grown by 41% over the past 12 months. Even worse, 88% of people believe that corruption exists within the government itself. Added to this is Portugal’s infamous ranking in the Corruption Perceptions Index, the world’s most used index to measure public sector corruption.
In 2020, Portugal was ranked 33rd out of 180 countries, down three places from 2019.
Many would argue that these results reflect a distorted reality and, as such, are irrelevant. This is just a misconception, perhaps the result of a wave of headlines about corruption cases. Others, on the other hand, will say that these barometers are an accurate picture of our country, that corruption is on the rise to alarming levels. In fact, I could write multiple opinion articles both for and against. Now, in addition to discussing the credibility of these indicators, it is important to reflect on their real implications for the fragile Portuguese democracy.
The debate about the scourge of corruption is raging among populism and nationalist movements. It is enough to observe what is happening in many pseudo-democratic countries of Europe and South America to understand that many took advantage of this wave to propose demagogic measures in order to later start the struggle in their own interests. Whether it’s harassing political opponents or even protecting and enriching family and friends of the next cycle. Even because, in fact, corruption is not fought, it is avoided. If the perception that everything in Portugal smells of corruption persists for a long time, it will be the apogee until the discrediting of the Portuguese in the field of democracy is reflected in the extremist and nationalist parties in power.
As Julius Caesar would say: “Caesar’s wife is not enough to be honest, she must appear honest.” Honest rulers of Portugal are no longer enough. They still have a long way to go to look honest. Starting with public ethics or lack thereof. The word ethics should mean more than a simple code of conduct.
Regimes of incompatibility of government owners, revolving doors with the private sector, conflicts of interest in public policy are all areas where the political will to change has clashed with the vested interests of those who benefit from the system. … Conflict of interest in its purest form.
The perception of the Portuguese from the Valley of Portuguese Democracy is extremely dangerous. The longer a democracy lasts in the absence of social ethics, the greater the impact. Not because corruption will erode democratic institutions on a larger scale than what has happened in the past 47 years, but because the supposed saviors of the homeland, who came from some mountain, can quickly destroy what is still left in the valley.
