The national coordinator of BE, Catarina Martins, presented this Saturday in Setúbal the first measure to change the specialty in the state budget for 2023, which aims to create a national pass for public transport of nine euros per month.
“The Bloco proposes to create a national pass of nine euros that will allow people to use all transport in the municipalities and metropolitan areas, as well as road transport and trains that make medium-distance connections in Portugal”said.
“Portugal is the only country in Europe where, in the inflation packages, there has never been a real measure to reduce transport costs and promote the use of collective transport,” added the BE coordinator, noting that “we are experiencing the combination of three crises: the inflation crisis, the problem of access to energy and also the problem of the war in Ukraine”.
For Catarina Martins, speaking at an initiative in Setúbal as part of the Roadmap for Climate Justice organized by BE, the new national pass would not only facilitate the travel of students and employees on public transport during the week, but also travel of weekend for those who study or work outside their families.
The new nine-europas, which, according to the BE coordinator, would be supported by revenues and taxes from the Environmental Promotion Fund, which finances the Transport Fare Reduction Support Program (PART), “it meant money in the pockets of all workers, more public transport, less fuel consumption and less pollution, to respond to the climate crisis”.
“Our proposal is not particularly innovative. Germany had a nine-euro pass during the summer months, which allowed train travel across the country and was very successful in reducing CO2 emissions, which is so fundamental to respond to the climate crisis”, stressed Catarina Martins, arguing that if the measure were applied year-round in Portugal, it would reduce pollution and allow people to make more use of public transport.
Asked by journalists about the state budget for 2023, Catarina Martins said the government acquiesced in the loss of purchasing power of the Portuguese due to inflation.
“The government has already accepted that those who work, those who receive a salary and pension, have already lost the equivalent of a month’s salary or a month’s pension to inflation. And next year’s salary will keep this loss. tells us about increases that, nominally, seem bigger than in the past, but with inflation so high, the government is only announcing that there will be a real loss of purchasing power, both salaries and pensions, in a country where it is already so difficult for those who work to make it to the end of the month,” he said.
“For us, the solution for the government was to uphold what it has said in previous years and to update pensions and salaries according to the previous year’s inflation, i.e. this year’s inflation, which meant we had it about increases around seven or eight percent, both for salaries and pensions. It was the only way, not even for people to live better, at least it was not how we could stay poorer every day,” defended Catarina Martins.
Faced with the disruption of the Carris Metropolitana in the Setúbal Peninsula, namely the loss of routes and non-compliance with bus timetables, the BE coordinator accused the government and the municipal councils of not wanting to take responsibility.
“Accountability is needed. There must be someone who makes decisions. And that is why BE has proposed that Carris Metropolitana be heard in Parliament and held accountable. If Carris Metropolitana cannot respond, the government must take consequences and change Carris Metropolitana into dialogue with the communities.
Source: DN
