The new Portuguese immigrants

[xchrom]

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/The/new/Portuguese/immigrants/elpepuint/20111128elpepiint_1/Ten

The news report that is on the television in the bar next door shows Silvio Berlusconi's face, to illustrating a story about Italy's runaway debt. Meanwhile, the lineup in front of the Consulate General of Angola in Lisbon stretches and shrinks at a constant rate.

The news coming out of the screen is bad: Italy is sinking, while France and Germany appear to be secretly negotiating a two-speed Europe where Portugal will surely play in the second division. Standing in line are two young missionaries, construction company employees and several executives, including one assertive type wearing a fedora and an anti-crisis kind of smile.

His name is António Fernandes, he is 36, speaks several languages, and has recently traveled to 50 different countries. He is now on his way to head up the Luanda base of his company, Cummins Power Generation, a multinational specializing in energy equipment. Fernandes will hire a team of around 40 people, including several Portuguese workers. With his exquisite Spanish, impeccable English and good manners, he is the prototype of the educated, intelligent, brave and ambitious young men and women who are leaving behind a country increasingly mired in its own negative data and collective depression.

"I suppose I'll be back in 15 years, when I've gained more experience," he says. "Right now, Portugal only gives you small opportunities."



*** depopulating the already distressed nations just makes it all the more impossible for these nations to get out from under the ECB & the IMF.
of course...that might also be the goal.