As of next week, more than a million families will receive an extraordinary support of 240 euros to cushion the impact of rising inflation. The measure, which is expected to be approved today by the Council of Ministers, is only intended for beneficiaries of social minimum benefits or aggregates who benefit from the social energy tariff. The government is allocating 240 million euros for this aid to the most vulnerable families. The decision was well received by the opposition, which did not spare criticism.
It was in an interview with Visão magazine that Prime Minister António Costa announced the disbursement of this new social benefit. “This week, the Council of Ministers approves a new increase for the most deprived families, of an extraordinary allowance of 240 euros, which corresponds to a very large effort, taking into account the evolution of inflation in this second half,” he said. . . The Chief Executive justified the measure by the difficulty of these beneficiaries in coping with the increase in the cost of living. “The effects of inflation are very uneven,” he told the publication, recalling that “prices have risen for everyone,” but there are those who don’t have “the same capacity to absorb the rise.” In November inflation was 9.9%.
The most vulnerable families will thus receive an additional benefit to help them respond to the difficulties of the loss of purchasing power, having already benefited from two social benefits of 60 euros each in the first and second quarter of this year, as well as a support of 125 euros that the government made available in October to all citizens with a gross income of up to 2,700 euros. In total, the measures to temper inflation for the most underprivileged will amount to 485 euros at the end of the year, not including the 50 euros in support per child.
The new aid will be paid through Social Security on Christmas Eve, December 23.
This measure is exclusively intended for families covered by the special electricity tariff or the minimum benefits, i.e. the solidarity supplement for the elderly, the social insertion income, the social invalidity pension of the special scheme of invalidity protection, the supplement to the social benefit for integration, the social old-age pension and the social unemployment benefit. The payment will run from December 23 until the end of the year, with its implementation being the responsibility of the social security system, Visão said yesterday, ahead of the publication of the interview with the prime minister.
And the future?
Responding to the aid announcement, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, said yesterday that the aid of 240 euros can make a difference in the lives of several families. While he admitted not knowing the specific measure, he admitted that for “families or people on very, very, very low incomes, 240 euros will make a difference in their lives”. The PSD, on the other hand, viewed the government’s decision as “a great Christmas present” for the most vulnerable, but pointed out that the future will bring new challenges. In the Assembly of the Republic, Social Democratic deputy Miguel Santos declared that “the country is subject to a growing and continuous impoverishment and that the incidental aid will be for its own use”. On the same occasion, he asked how the most deprived will meet the increase in home loans “in January or February”.
The PCP defended that inflation “is not a one-month problem”. The PCP’s parliamentary leader, Paula Santos, claimed the introduction of “structural measures that restore and value the purchasing power that workers and pensioners lose every day” and pushed for increases in wages and pensions and for control and setting of prices for essential goods and Services. Chega, in turn, called for support for the middle class as well. “So far we know that this 240 euros will be allocated to those who have a minimum benefit or benefit from the social electricity tariff,” said Andre Ventura.
The central unions of UGT and CGTP recognized the importance of support, but defended that the most important thing is to raise wages and pensions.
With LUSA
Sónia Santos Pereira is a journalist for Dinheiro Vivo
Source: DN
