Unsurprisingly, the PSD criticized the package of measures the government presented on Thursday to support businesses in the fight against inflation. In the voice of Paulo Rios de Oliveira, the Social Democrats believed that “the mountain gave birth to a mouse”.
“The PSD expresses its huge disappointment, we have done our part, we have done everything we can to get the government into the debate” with measures that could effectively help the Portuguese and the government doesn’t even have the excuse not to have money,” defended Paulo Rios de Oliveira.
From the deputy’s point of view, “The government’s program, strictly speaking, consists mainly of loans, always in the wake of those expressions that socialists like to usea nice name for the Energy to Advance package and then something for training, for transport, for the helplines, but in reality they should be more concerned with the scope because what was urgent for some is urgent for everyone right now “, accused. In view of this, said Paulo Rios de Oliveira, the government postponed taking a real stand “to help Portuguese companies”.
IL, PCP and Chega were the first to respond
Earlier, the Liberal Initiative (IL), PCP and Chega were the first parties to respond to the announcement of the package of measures to support companies that the Council of Ministers approved this Thursday. And like the PSD, they have strongly criticized the measures presented.
“Good companies don’t need subsidies,” said Carlos Guimarães Pinto, an IL deputy, who classifies the measures as “a pack of band-aids.” “What companies need is to grow and take advantage of the good times to fight the bad times. Most measures are recycled”accused, before emphasizing that “the emphasis should be on reforms and structural measures.”
On the PCP side, it was Parliament Speaker Paula Santos to respond. And like the Liberal deputy, the measures are being criticized, in a package that the communist spokeswoman called “inadequate”, especially because it forgets about “micro, small and medium-sized companies”. “The government insists on not stopping price increases or taxing extraordinary profits,” he accused.
For Chega, it was André Ventura who responded. From the point of view of the responsible person “government again makes insufficient presentation of patched measures”, he accused, in line with what Carlos Guimarães Pinto had already said. Classify the set of measures as “a trick and a fraud”Ventura also said that “what is being presented is a series of support patches that already exist, which will shut out most companies”.
“It has yet to be explained why the government will not allow the simplified layoff, which many entrepreneurs have been asking for,” he said. confess to understand the “need for correct accounts”, but “it’s more of the same”.
For the Bloco de Esquerda (BE): “the government gives support in miniature, pretense”. According to Catarina Martins, block leader, “the measures presented are very short” and “most are renewal measures that already exist”. Catarina Martins gave as an example “the limited capacity to reach small companies that face greater difficulties”.
Textile approves the measures but calls for caution. Agrifood believes there was “honesty”
For Dinheiro Vivo, the president of Associação Têxtil e Vestuário de Portugal (ATP), Mário Jorge Machado, believed that the measures “go in the right direction because they consist of two components: they include several aspects that make life difficult for companies.” , such as training and the energy transition”, but emphasizes: it is necessary to “see the details”.
“The minister had said it would be possible to go up to two million euros to support companies, but we have to wait and see how the access conditions will be. That will make all the difference. If companies cannot qualify, it will be very bad for its continuity,” added the association leader.
From another perspective, the president of FIPA – Federation of Portuguese Agro-Food Industries Dinheiro Vivo also told that the sector he represents “has been asking the government for several months to be included in the aid package for intensive natural gas consumers.”
Jorge Henriques also stated that, “Since this is an extremely critical phase for the agri-food industry, a situation that has been going on since the pandemic, due to the closure or interruption of activity, it made no sense for the sector to remain without support”.
That is why he says: “We are pleased that our claims have finally been rightly accepted, after much insistence by the Ministries of Agriculture and Economy”.
Of Cash
Source: DN
