The PSD’s first vice president, Paulo Rangel, said this Friday that the government is “caught up in business” and has “very serious weaknesses” at a time of economic and social crisis when it needed “ethical capacity” and “authority to impose.”
“At a time of economic and social crisis, when we most needed a government with the ethical capacity and authority to impose itself, we found a government mired in business”said the fellow MEP, speaking in Vila Real, where the PSD launched the “Build the Alternative” initiative this Friday.
And, according to Paulo Rangel after the cases of European funds and “conflicts of interest”, now “Even in the hardest core of the government there are very serious weaknesses, whether it is respect for the independence of the Bank of Portugal or the Secretary of State who has the political coordination of the government, who is exposed to a situation such as that which was seen with the Prime Minister’s foreknowledge”🇧🇷
The Social Democrat referred to the cases of Miguel Alves, who resigned as Deputy Secretary of State to the Prime Minister after being charged by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) with subterfuge under an Operation Teia certificate for acts committed when he became mayor of Caminha as well as the accusation by the former governor of the Banco de Portugal, Carlos Costa, of alleged interference on the part of António Costa to “keep Isabel dos Santos untouchable”.
“What happened to this Deputy Prime Minister’s Secretary of State is absolutely unacceptable, it is a situation that is totally unnecessary and for which the Prime Minister is responsible because he was aware of many of the circumstances that weakened a figure who is a linchpin .” in any government. (…) We see that other investigations are underway and we see that there is a serious suspicion of Banco de Portugal”said Paulo Rangel.
And for the MEP, the situation regarding the Bank of Portugal is “extremely serious”, which is why he defended that an explanation from the Prime Minister’s side is needed.
“It is not enough to complain on television, you must explain exactly whether or not you have done this and to what extent”he emphasized that “from the point of view of the regular functioning of democratic institutions, it is a very bad, very negative thing”🇧🇷
The PSD leadership is promoting the “Build the Alternative” initiative to debate “the shortcomings” of the government’s state budget proposal for next year with social democratic militants in all districts and to present alternative proposals.
Paul Rangel stated that “this budget does not meet the needs of the country at a time of serious crisis”emphasizing that “it’s an absolutely suffocating tax effort for businesses and households at a time when inflation is worrying and hit 10.1% (in October)”🇧🇷
“What we see is a budget that has no reform drive”he stressed.
The PSD First Vice President highlighted two priorities in the Social Democrats’ proposals for the state budget for 2023, namely health and housing.
In the field of health, he pointed to the issue of general practitioners, which he said are in decline, the functioning of hospitals and the systematic closure of emergency situations, as well as the “disastrous situation of obstetrics”.
Regarding housing, he highlighted the rise in interest rates “families in a situation of brutal stress”as well as the lack of student housing.
“The cost of energy, the cost of food and if we add to that an increase in loans, as a large proportion of Portuguese households have a loan to buy their house, this is clearly an explosive mix from a social point of view. We have measures to compensate for the rise in interest rates”he said.
Source: DN
