The PSD president defended this Wednesday that Portugal should “risk paying better wages” in public administration and companies and warned of the “political figure” the government is preparing to make with the extraordinary update of pensions.
During a breakfast hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Portugal, in a hotel in Lisbon, Luís Montenegro again accused the Prime Minister, António Costa, of being “the champion” of tax collection and that taxes in Portugal are too high. and unpredictable.
“Mr. António Costa will be champion anyway, he doesn’t have to thrash the Portuguese. He first makes them suffer and then has the means to do something good for certain segments of the population and, sorry to say, electoral strata.” , he stated.
The PSD leader included the extraordinary raise that will be paid to retirees in July.
“The election campaign is already underway: this week we will be caught with the news of the extraordinary increase in pensions, which is not an increase at all: it is simply giving back to pensioners what Dr. António Costa cut there, last year”, he considered.
Montenegro recalled that the PSD submitted a proposal to include “the update provided for by law” in this year’s budget, which was rejected at the time.
“First he attacked, first he sacrificed, and now he appears with a washed face and wants to give what already belonged to the people, to make a political number with what already belonged to the pensioners,” he criticized.
A day after the European Central Bank warned of the impact wage increases could have on sustaining inflation, the leader of the PSD did not directly refer to these predictions, but left a challenge.
“In Portugal, we have to take a risk with a salary policy to value those who work in public administration and companies,” he defended.
The leader of the PSD admitted that “it is customary to say that salaries are not increased by decree”, and even thought that this should not be the way, even in the national minimum wage.
“But I confess that we will really have to take a risk in the state, but also in companies, by paying better wages,” he said, warning of the lack of human resources in public administration in vital areas such as health, education , security or courts.
In a speech lasting more than 40 minutes – and in which the public’s questions were closed to the media – Montenegro said he did not want to discourage anyone from investing in Portugal with his criticism of the national situation, and reiterated the demography as “the most relevant issue” in the country, which he says is “neglected by political power”.
In addition to measures to remove birth barriers and keep young people in Portugal, the Social Democratic leader again championed a policy of attracting immigrants, whom he called “new Portuguese”.
“It is just as essential to attract and welcome people of other origins as it is to treat them well, to provide them with dignified conditions,” he said, saying that this is what he is referring to when he talks about “ have immigration with rules”.
Montenegro defended that “it takes courage” to funnel part of the funds from the state budget for this purpose.
“We need to solve the problems of people born and living here, but we need to be able to do both things at the same time,” he defended, pointing as a priority to the appeal of young students and entire families, two groups he believes integrate more easily into the country.
Montenegro repeated criticism of the government’s use of funds from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) – again accused of using it as “an amending budget” for unmade public investment”.
“It’s a missed opportunity, not to say it’s a shot in the foot in the national interest,” he charged.
Source: DN
