The Prime Minister defended this Monday that his governments have given teachers everything possible in recent years for this profession and believed that he has solved a structural problem in healthcare.
António Costa spoke to CNN/Portugal at the Prime Minister’s official residence, four days after the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, formally dismissed his government.
“It is clearly frustrating to see a legislature paused twice. In addition to two years of paralysis due to Covid-19. There are many things that are in the government program that we will not be able to do,” the leader lamented. of the executive branch, before referring to the country’s current situation in the field of education.
António Costa noted that “teachers want more than what has been achieved”.
“For our part, I think we achieved everything it was possible to achieve, and that wasn’t much. We thawed the career, the clock was stopped and the clock started ticking again. Secondly, we have extended the service time of the teachers partially restored. It was not the whole, but it was a part,” he argued.
At this point, the Prime Minister stuck to the position that the release of careers in the case of teachers was “exactly” the same as what was applied “to all other professionals in the state who have a career whose progression is based on time.” .
“We have been treating teachers equally. Since the dialogue has been permanent all this time, we have even introduced a series of acceleration mechanisms this year,” he added.
Faced with teachers’ dissatisfaction with their governments, he countered that “those who govern make decisions that deserve great applause and make decisions that deserve criticism.”
“There are teachers who criticize. I think Portuguese society as a whole understood what we were doing and we tried to treat it fairly,” he insisted.
The government implemented “the most in-depth reform since the SNS was founded,” Costa said
On healthcare, the Prime Minister defended that he had solved “a fundamental problem of underfunding”.
“With the 2024 state budget, we have an increase of almost 70% compared to the 2015 budget. A structural problem related to the country’s ability to finance the healthcare system, without creating an imbalance in its public accounts, it is a problem that has been solved,” he argued.
António Costa also defended that his government had implemented “the most profound reform since the creation of the National Health Service (SNS)” “with the creation of the executive leadership”.
“And we saw a huge increase in wages, especially for physicians. It is important to remember that last week the government reached an agreement with one of the unions, the only one available to negotiate in good faith and to the end. was the Independent Union of Doctors (JA),” he noted.
Asked whether he concluded that his government has left a positive legacy in healthcare, the Prime Minister said: “The SNS, which is obviously subject to many tensions, experienced two years of pandemic in which, faced with a new demographic context, confronted with a series of new technologies, a structural problem could be solved at the same time: financing versus public accounts.
“Secondly, we have managed to create a new management model; thirdly, we have moved to the generalization of model B USFs, and have also introduced this with regard to hospitals. These reforms have now been implemented. In a few months the results will be be more visible.” , he promised.
New Lisbon Airport. Criticizes PSD for “questioning the seriousness and rigor” of the Independent Technical Commission.
When asked about the fact that the PSD had announced that it would set up an internal working group to evaluate the choice of location for the new Lisbon airport, after the Independent Technical Commission (CTI) released its preliminary report, the Prime Minister that he feared the idea that “everything could stop again, everything could go backwards again”.
António Costa criticized the fact that “hearing the PSD now questions the seriousness and accuracy of a CTI whose constitutional model was agreed with the PSD itself for the airport decision”.
Regarding the priorities of his government, now at the helm, the Prime Minister emphasized that executive power will not stop.
“As far as the restrictions are concerned, it’s about respecting the restrictions. As for what there are no restrictions on, it is necessary not to stop the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), it is necessary to accelerate the implementation of Portugal 2030,” he stressed. .
António Costa took the opportunity to point out that he will have “a very busy international agenda” in the coming months.
“Therefore, all this will continue to develop normally. Now that the government is in control, it is essential that all government departments realize that they have not yet entered into management. And none of this can stop it,” he added.
Source: DN
