In an interview with TVI, the president of the republic hinted that the government of António Costa has a budgetary margin. “In the coming years we will have free time for this life. There were moments in Portuguese life when we didn’t have it, there was no PRR [Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência] nor PT2030. There were other European funds, but there were not as many funds as there are now,” underlined Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
The head of state, who subsequently removed the word ‘slack’, was the ‘governor of the Banco de Portugal [Mário Centeno] I would be concerned about the laxity that this could entail”, he reiterated the idea that there is a way beyond the budget constraints, provided “common sense and caution are used”. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has championed a reduction in the tax burden, placing himself on the side of the opposition to the right.
Regarding the upcoming school year, the President of the Republic devalued the strikes announced by the teachers’ unions, saying they are part of democratic life, and held that everyone would benefit if normality prevailed .
“The most important thing is that everyone realizes that they should benefit from a relatively normal school year. The most important stakeholders are the students, then the families and then the teachers, and it is a mistake to think that teachers are winners or losers.” he said in the interview on TVI at Belém Palace.
The academic year will start between September 12 and 15 and the announced strikes predict a year marked by teacher opposition, similar to the previous one. “It’s a complicated question. And the complicated question is to define whether or not to make up for lost time and under what conditions,” he recalled.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa recalled that the government took a “closed position” on this issue and then, due to financial elasticity, allowed an adjustment.
However, the President of the Republic believes that this academic year 2023/24 will go better than the previous one because “people are learning”.
Source: DN
