The president of the PS believes that the government should address the issues of salaries frozen in the two years of the covid-19 pandemic and understands that the socialist executive has all the political conditions to comply with the legislature life.
These views were conveyed by Carlos César in an interview with the Lusa agency, focusing on the situation of the current government, when Monday marks a year of the PS’s victory with an absolute majority in the early parliamentary elections of January 30, 2022.
Asked about the existence of a gradual growth of social protest, particularly from teachers, the former socialist parliamentary leader and current state councilor begins by reflecting on the two years of the pandemic [da covid-19] “in which, for example, all issues related to salary negotiations and many others related to special careers were in some way frozen or hindered from being treated with the freedom of union and labor that characterizes democracies and of the country”.
Now, according to Carlos César, there is a period when the government and the PS “need to address and deal with these salary problems that remain after this break”.
“It is time to solve these problems on a case-by-case basis. Some are being solved – and it is certain that the teachers’ problem will also receive a design in the solution that will allow them to have confidence in a process that will not be interrupted from time to time. restoration of what they think they are entitled to”, to defend.
When asked about doubts whether the current government will be able to fulfill its mandate until the end of the legislature, Carlos César argues that all political and institutional conditions are still in place for this to happen.
“The PS achieved an electoral victory, which manifested itself from an organic point of view in an absolute majority in parliament, mainly for three reasons: one on its own merit and the results achieved in previous government positions; a second reason, which can be attributed to the lack capacity of the opposition to offer a constructive alternative; and a third reason that it was a clear choice by the voters to privilege and recognize the essential nature of political stability in the institutional aspect,” he argues.
According to Carlos César, “these three reasons that led to the election victory of the PS, the absolute majority it has and the composition of the government are the same three reasons that exist unscathed today”.
“Therefore, I believe that there are all conditions for the government to continue its functions and there is no manifestation to the contrary on the part of the other sovereign bodies, intervening in a possible interruption of the administrative experience in progress The President of the Republic has already acknowledged that it is essential to maintain the stability and continuity of the government’s actions, and the PS has a comfortable majority in parliament, which means that it can continue to implement its policies and the government’s program .” he points out.
In this interview, the former president of the regional government of the Azores (1996/2012) rejects the statement that absolute majorities are detrimental to democratic life.
The PS “can be proud that, despite having an absolute majority that would allow it to act independently of third parties at the political level, the truth is that this year in office shows that we are in the presence of a new experience of exercising the absolute majority”, plead.
To deny the proposition that an absolute majority corresponds to absolute power, the PS president resorts to the accounting of parliamentary votes, saying that it is possible to “create a very large number of confluences between the PS and the other parties either in terms of the proposals of the government itself, or in terms of agreeing to proposals from opposition parties”.
“Despite an absolute majority at the parliamentary level, which would relieve the government of important additional steps, the truth is that the government has asserted its social dialogue skills by signing a multi-annual social dialogue agreement, has reached an agreement within the the scope of the civil service, reached an agreement with the associations of municipalities, started the process of decentralization of powers, and even in specific cases, such as for example the methodology related to the construction of the new airport, it was able to agree with opposing forces”, illustrates .
Carlos César recognizes that absolute majorities “always give rise to some impatience on the part of opponents, more or less informally, of parties or other forces, given the perception that the government may not take heed and need not adjust its positions”.
“But in fact, the exact opposite has been proven in this day and age,” he adds.
Source: DN
