The general secretary of the PCP, Paulo Raimundo, in his speech at the end of the Festa do Avante! to an exuberant audience and drew attention to the policies of the executive led by António Costa, which, he argues, “essentially serve the interests and objectives of economic groups, an option where the action of the PS government, its absolute majority and the intervention of PSD, CDS, Chega and IL are converging towards”.
“They are now telling us that the economy is doing well,” emphasizes Paulo Raimundo, who wonders if that is the case “It’s good for the two million people at risk of poverty, 345,000 of them children”. “Is it okay for about 3 million workers, who earn up to a thousand euros in gross salary per month,” the communist leader asked, before accusing the government and PSD, CDS, Chega and IL of being “submissive” to the “euro” . , to the impositions of the European Union and to the right accounting’, which, he defends, does not serve the interests of the people “and exacerbates the country’s problems”.
Paulo Raimundo’s speech also lifted the veil on some proposals that the communists will present during the next legislature and that have even dominated the national political context, such as “IRS aid for workers and pensioners”. In addition, still on the tax front, Raimundo pushed for “increasing the number of levels and updating the value of the specific deduction” in the IRS and “for the reduction of VAT on electricity, gas and telecommunications”, which depend on is of European directives. .
Interrupted several times by the public, who continued to shout “this is how you can see the strength of the CP”, the communist leader also left some warnings. “If the vast majority, who are the target of injustice and inequality, if the workers and the people become aware of the strength they have, the strength of their struggle, the strength of their unity, then this will really change.”noted.
Paulo Raimundo’s message to the party followed the lines of other political forces and defined as its goal the good results in the elections in Madeira this year, and in the European elections in 2024. “We want more power for the PCP and the CDU, with our allies of the Ecologist Party “Os Verdes” (…), because more votes and more mandates from the CDU are a requirement to advance the rights and living conditions of workers and populations, and from now on in Madeira , where elections for the Regional Legislative Assembly will take place from here in three weeks’ time”.
With regard to Europe and with his eyes on the next parliamentary elections, Raimundo pledged that “PCP deputies are the essential voice guaranteeing the defense of the rights and interests of the workers, the people and the country, to courageously support submission to the euro and to the impositions of the European Union”.
focus on housing
The housing measures, which the communist leader already on the first day of Avante! had emphasized, also resonated with the conclusion. The reaffirmed target is to “stop repossessions and evictions” and “prevent speculation” in real estate, by imposing a “maximum limit of 0.43% increase on all rents in the coming year”.
In addition, according to Raimundo, the PCP wants to reclaim moratoriums on mortgage loans, “similar to what happened during the epidemic, limiting the number of installments to be paid to the bank”. Also for those who still have mortgage payments, the PCP proposes, “from Caixa Geral de Depósitos, a spread [margem de lucro dos bancos] maximum 0.25%”.
The Communist General Secretary took back one of the government’s flags and threw barbs at António Costa’s executive, declaring that the PS’s policies serve the “correct accounts of the economic groups” and the “unacceptable tax advantages” . drawing attention to what he considered a “plundering of public funds with public-private partnerships, with the criminal privatizations and corruption that go with it”.
Source: DN
