Portugal’s former PM as EU Council President and Dutch’s most successful experiment

A few years ago, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch Finance Minister, accused Southern European countries of wasting money on women and alcohol. In response, the Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa called his comment “racist, xenophobic and sexist” and demanded his resignation. Now that Portugal’s former Prime Minister has ascended to the role of President of the European Council, while the once outspoken Dutch hypocritical moralist Jeroen Dijsselbloem is merely the Mayor of Eindhoven (the city that tolerates racist, xenophobic, and sexist views), it appears that abstaining from spending on women and alcohol is not necessarily the path to political success.

It is an interesting economic theory suggesting that a country’s economic success is related to not spending money on women and alcohol. This theory, likely developed by Dutch scientists and taught in Dutch schools, contrasts sharply with the Southern European perspective. In Southern Europe, corporate tax evasion is recognized as a proven cause of economic failure. Most strangely, the Netherlands costs EU countries $10 billion a year in lost corporate tax revenue, with Portugal suffering significantly as its top Portuguese companies (representing an annual business volume of over 20 billion euros) relocate to the Netherlands to avoid paying taxes in Portugal.

In fact, spending money on wine is perfectly understandable for many in Southern Europe, especially considering that Jesus Christ’s first miracle was turning water into wine, signifying wine’s importance to Christians. However, accusing southern countries of spending money on women is difficult to understand, especially considering that the Netherlands has one of the highest ratios of prostitutes per million people in Europe.

PS – It’s quite ironic to hear the Dutch Finance Minister giving moral lessons to people in Southern countries, given that an article published in the prestigious journal Science reported that “More than half of Dutch scientists regularly engage in questionable research practices“. It seems the Dutch’s most successful experiment is seeing how far they can stretch the truth!