A NEW month, a new crisis. In February Italy’s voters rebelled against their political class and European austerity. In March Cypriot depositors took to the streets to denounce an ill-conceived plan to tax all bank savings. Now Portugal’s judges have struck down key parts of the government’s austerity programme as anti-constitutional.The court ruling turned Portugal from a quiet but promising student in the euro’s remedial class into yet another troublemaker. In Brussels officials barely disguise their contempt for the black-robed judges who have decided that cutting the 14th month of pay for public-sector workers and pensioners constituted unfair discrimination. “It’s the last socialist constitution in Europe,” grumbled one Eurocrat. For Portugal, the ruling endangers the promise of an extension of maturities on its euro-zone loans and reduces the chances of graduating from its bail-out programme on time next year. Moreover, the upheaval raises questions for the euro zone. If one of the best pupils is failing, what does it say about the policy of austerity it is imposing? Even if it is justified, it may not be working fast enough to stop political erosion in debtor…
The Economist: Europe
