A socialist party ready to fight “and win as in the past”. This is how António Costa characterized the current mood of the party, in a long speech at the end of the Socialist Academy, the rent of the party.
In Leiria – a district in which the Socialists won last January for the first time since 1974 – the PS secretary general said again that the board was signed by the “devil”. First, he says, it was the recovery of the measures of the Troika period, then “in 2019, just over two months later, came a pandemic like none seen in 100 years” and now no one would imagine “a war motivated by Russia against Ukraine”. Still, he guaranteed, the party will not stray from course and will meet its objective: “We have a responsibility to rule with stability and predictability. The right bills” and “continue to invest in strengthening the SNS”, while ’employment grew’.
“There is one thing we know: Despite scrupulously following the Basic Law of Social Security (…) we have managed to extend the stability of our Social Security in 26 years.”
António Costa referred to it as “never easy” to rule under less than ideal circumstances and said the executive had recently received “two signs of confidence”.
First, “in two weeks, two agencies improved the rating out of the country. It’s very important. The right accounts do not require budget cuts, but good governance. Debt reduction is not only a goal of the state, but of everyone and it is essential that we maintain this international credibility”.
And, he said, the second sign of confidence is the number of young people (50,000, the second largest ever) placed in the first stage of access to higher education this year. “In this time of uncertainty, young people are giving a sign of confidence. Nevertheless, with progress in qualifications we will have more and better conditions and companies will have more qualified people to work with,” he said.
“Debt reduction is not only a goal for the state, but for everyone and it is essential that we maintain this international credibility.”
Faced with inflation – for which “there is no vaccine” – the socialist secretary general took the opportunity to go back in time to the height of the pandemic to say that “as long as there is common sense” the crisis that is now being crossed will be caught up. Taking the opportunity to leave barbs to the opposition – which he accuses of having presented measures “in two rounds” – António Costa guaranteed: “It is better to follow what we [Governo] we do what we follow the opposition.’ ‘First they present proposals in Pontal and then through a project in the Assembly of the Republic. If it’s less than we’ve already done? It’s much less than what we approved this week,” he added, referring to the Families First program, which has an estimated budget impact of €2.4 billion.
Faced with the chorus of criticism that all parties, with the exception of the PS, of course, left, the Secretary-General defended himself. “The opposition says the classic: it’s coming late. It always said we would present these measures in September so we could monitor inflation and see if it would continue to grow or if it would stagnate in July. That’s why we waited until now : to know and be sure that we should adopt them now,” he added.
“The opposition says the classic: [o pacote de apoios] come late. I have always said that we would present these measures in September so that we can monitor inflation (…).”
António Costa admitted that it is impossible to support higher pension increases than the ones already envisioned, but has guaranteed that he will never jeopardize the sustainability of social security, even if the opposition takes a “thud” , reiterating the promise that between the end of next year and the beginning of 2024 he will see another increase in pensions, because while it will be easy to give more in 2023, the future may not be the best, he said. “We wouldn’t know what could happen. There is one thing we do know: Over the years, despite scrupulously following the Basic Law of Social Security, despite moving beyond this Basic Law with extraordinary pension increases, despite the increase in other social benefits, we have managed to extend the stability of our social security by 26 years,” he concluded.
Source: DN
