Prime Minister António Costa stated this Sunday that the country has “good reasons” to have confidence in the future and has “more freedom of choice” as it has “fewer budgetary constraints”.
“I’m not going to talk to you about the future here, but since the theme is ‘Future Portugal’, I think it is my duty to say why I think we have good reasons to have confidence in the future and to believe that, certainly, the future is better than the present, I say this neither out of faith nor out of voluntary optimism,” said António Costa.
The Prime Minister, speaking at the Manuel António da Mota Award ceremony, which took place at Porto Customs, also stated that the country “enjoys greater freedom” after “overcoming decades of budgetary imbalance.”
“Today, fortunately, the country enjoys greater freedom in its choices regarding the future. The fact that we have overcome decades of budgetary imbalance and today have a situation without the need to raise taxes or cut spending, and we have a balanced budget, translates into something of the greatest democratic and political importance,” he stated.
António Costa stressed that this freedom will allow the Portuguese to choose the programs they want, but also “to reserve the balance to invest in the future, to reserve the balance to face the vicissitudes of the future, to use the balance to reduce income and use the balance to increase costs’.
“This achievement and this degree of freedom is something that gives us confidence about our future,” he added.
Among the various “objective reasons” that he said supported confidence in the future, the Prime Minister highlighted the fight against poverty, the economic fabric, the attractiveness of investments and the qualification of human resources.
António Costa also believed that Portugal could play an important role in the fight against climate change, not only “with words”, but also with actions, ensuring new forms of energy production and consumption.
“Portugal can face this challenge with confidence,” he said, stressing that there are “good reasons to have confidence in the future.”
“What future are we going to have? We will certainly have the future that the Portuguese want, with the guarantee that today they have more freedom of choice because today they have fewer budgetary constraints than before, that today they have a more robust and robust economy that is solid, that produces more and better jobs (…) which we assume under the best conditions in terms of energy transition and especially because today we have human resources that are not only on par with the European average, but also close to the best levels in the European Union,” he added.
Source: DN
