On Wednesday, the prime minister highlighted the agreements made in the social dialogue, in the civil service, with municipalities and even with the PSD, even with an absolute majority, and warned that he is not eager to do everything in a year.
“We are here to implement a program that we have presented for four years and we are not afraid to fulfill in the first year everything we have to achieve during the legislature”declared António Costa in the last part of the speech he gave at the Christmas dinner of the PS group, in a restaurant near Castelo de São Jorge, in Lisbon.
While several members of his government and the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santos Silva, listened to him, the leader of the executive began by noting that Friday in parliament the diploma reviewing the regime of professional orders – – “one of the central reforms aimed at limiting corporatism in Portuguese society”.
“It is with sadness that I see that there will not be a final vote tomorrow on the [proposta de lei intitulada] Decent Work Agenda, but I’m sure it will happen in January or February. And we guarantee one thing to those who work on digital platforms: it is not tomorrow that they will be protected, but we are even going to pass legislation to end this petty disgrace of pretending there is no employment relationship.”he said, receiving applause from the socialist deputies.
Still, according to António Costa, there is “another certainty” that the Socialists want to leave, even with an absolute majority in parliament: “The certainty of a dialogue with everyone who builds Portuguese society with us”.
He highlighted the agreement on income and competitiveness that was reached in the context of social dialogue, the agreement with the trade unions on the salary evolution in the civil service until 2026, the agreements on the decentralization of powers for municipalities in the field of health, education and the social sector, and the agreement in principle with the PSD on the criteria for choosing the location of the new airport in the Lisbon region.
“We have a duty to dialogue and we do. We reach agreement with the opposition as often as possible”he said, also noting that the government has approved two budgets this year and that these proposals had higher viability support than the amount of the PS bank – an allusion to the abstentions of the PSD/Madeira deputies (in the 2022 budget ), the Free and of PAN.
“None of these budgets were approved with the votes of all non-PS deputies”he added.
Source: DN
