The Rule of Law and Portugal aka Car Theft
Let me give you a small introduction to what passes for the Rule of Law
in Portugal.
We recently had an article in our local English language newspaper
telling us that 40,000 cars had been impounded for drivers failing to
pay motorway tolls. This is an interesting and very alarming situation,
and shows how the law in this country is rigged against everybody who
is not on the government ticket.
First: how many of those 40,000 cars are owned by the keeper? I dont
know a single Portuguese person who owns a car. They are all owned by
finance companies who lease them on the never never. The car is not
owned by the keeper until the last payment is made. So how can the
government sell them without first paying off the finance companies? Or
can the government simply steal a car belonging to a finance company
because the company's client hasn't paid a toll? Is the company
responsible for tolls?
Second: I understood the government had passed the motorway system to
private companies and that tolls were a payment for services, not a
tax. If a driver does not pay a private company the toll, what right
has the government to impound the car that has been driven without
paying a civil fee? Is the government a collection agency for a private
company? And if so, is the private company paying for this method of
collection, or is the tax payer paying? If the latter, why are tax
payers subsidising the enforcement of fees for a private company?
Third: Under what right can the government interfere with a private
contract made freely in the market place? I refer to the contract
between finance company and car driver. Obviously, if what The News
says is correct, the government can push itself in front, and
effectively destroy that contract without a hearing before a judge, and
(see paragraph above) do it on behalf of a different private company.
That means there is no, repeat, NO rule of law in Portugal. Not only is
this bully-boy tactics, but it is an example of a government cuddling
up to a private company at tax payers' expense. This is simply another
form of corruption.
Fourth: If the scale of operations is as reported then how long will it
be before finance companies pull out of the car market? Six months? A
year? Next week? If this goes on they will have to pull out or go bust.
That means we can expect a substantial return to push bikes, horse and
cart, and donkeys. We appear to have a government intent on suicide.
That's fine by me, but I dont see why the blighters should take the
whole country down with them.
Fifth: If the government can interfere in the ways I mentioned above,
what is to stop them interfering in anything and everything in this
country, and reverting to robber baron status, and stealing what it
likes?
Sixth: Welcome back grandson of Salazar. Good morning fascism! I dont
think this is for me. I prefer to live in a country which has some
respect for basic law. I sometimes wonder if Portugal is in the EU at
all. It's legal system most certainly isn't. It's clearly in it only
for the money.
John