Livre’s sole deputy, Rui Tavares, will abstain from voting on the general proposal for the National Budget for 2023 (OE2023), making the final vote dependent on a “serious commitment” from the government on “substantive amendment proposals”.
“Libre defends a fiscal strategy anchored in economic and fiscal options that address the social and environmental emergency as a priority, as well as the guarantee of quality public services. This means that we are available for a dialogue with each of the ministers, after a vote of abstention in general, to meet what our voters expect from Livre in the specific discussion,” reads a party leadership message sent to members this morning and to which Lusa had access.
This morning, as usual, Livre met his Assembly – the highest body between congresses – to close the vote in general, and in the text sent to Members, it warns that its position in the final global vote will depend on discussions with the government in the specialty.
“This position assumes that only with a serious commitment from the government regarding substantive amendment proposals and with real impact that Livre will submit can we gain access to vote other than against, at the time of the final global vote,” read.
For the party represented in the Assembly of the Republic by the sole deputy Rui Tavares, the The government’s proposal for OE2023 “dictates a false choice between “correct billing” or fiscal rigor and continuing the income recovery path initiated in previous legislatures”.
According to Livre, with this proposal the government prefers a limited budget, which would be sufficient in a time of economic growth and inflation at normal levels, but which ultimately increases the chance of a recession, which it considers unlikely, but for the one who wants to be prepared”.
The party emphasizes that “the concern about the reduction of public debt is not irrelevant insofar as it limits the price to be paid for its maintenance or for any new demand for state financing”.
“However, an inflationary scenario such as the one we are living through now has the side effect of lowering the government debt-to-GDP ratio and giving us extra time to reach the initially set targets,” they write, citing other European Union countries opting to do so. to “centre its fiscal policy on real and significant increases in income, social benefits and measures aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises”.
“In this proposal for the state budget, the burden of bearing the impact of inflation on the middle class will fall and public services will be condemned to stagnation, in cases where their budgets are not reduced,” they accuse.
The party represented by Rui Tavares in parliament calls for the creation of a public hydrogen company and recalls some of the proposals it managed to include in the 2022 state budget, the implementation of which “with attention and demand” follows.
Livre also wants to see the implementation of a proposal recently passed in parliament on home loans, “which will ensure that banks offer alternatives to those who see their installments rise significantly, given the rise in indices such as Euribor”, preventing the banking industry from creating obstacles to customers who want to switch from the variable rate to the fixed rate.
“In the same way, during the dialogue with the government on next year’s budget, Livre will table measures such as the national rail pass, the creation of a public school transport service, the strengthening of the Culture donation and many others that will be presented during the whole process of discussion in the specialty,” they write.
Like what happened on the first day of the OE2023 debate, Rui Tavares will intervene in today’s discussion via videoconference and remote voting as he is infected with covid-19, a solution agreed this week at a extraordinary leaders conference.
In the vote on the state budget for 2022, Livre abstained generally and in the last global vote, and managed to see some of his proposals approved by the socialist majority.
Some of the measures that were given the ‘green light’ at the time were the ‘Program 3 ‘C’ – Home, Comfort and Climate’, to improve energy efficiency and living conditions for the most deprived population, a pilot project of the four-day working week , as well as expanding unemployment benefits for victims of domestic violence.
The state budget will be voted in general terms today, moves to the specialty phase and has a final global vote scheduled for Nov. 25.
Source: DN
