The coordinator of the Bloco de Esquerda (BE), Catarina Martins, this Thursday justified the decline in party officials with the need to have “correct bills” so that it maintains its independence, without building up debt or asking for favors.
“In the BE, there is a great realization from all supporters, not only from the leadership side, that the independence of the party is fundamental. The BE is not to blame. The BE is not asking for favours, it is not bound to some power. And that is why you must always work with the financial conditions you have. And you must always have correct and transparent accounts,” said Catarina Martins in an interview with the newspaper Público and Rádio Renascença.
The bloc leader, who confirmed that the bloc currently has “half of the existing employees”, without quantifying, due to the decrease in the state subsidy due to the loss of parliamentary representation, from 19 to 5 deputies in the Assembly of the Republic.
Catarina Martins emphasized in the interview that “the Entidade das Contas, year after year recognizes BE as the party with the most accurate and transparent accounts”.
“This autonomy of our functioning is so. There is a worse election result, the BE has less financial resources and therefore reduces its structure because it will not work with debt. It is difficult, yes. But we all agree that this is the way,” he added.
Asked if this does not contradict what the party is defending in parliament, Catarina Martins replied that “BE has in fact defended that those who gain cannot fire”.
“As you unfortunately know, that is not the case with BE,” he concluded.
As for the party’s action regarding the rise in the cost of living, Catarina Martins developed the ideas that they will present in parliament in a debate already scheduled for October 6, for which they propose solutions to the problems facing the rise in interest rates in Europe. home loans.
“We are going to propose measures that are within the reach of the government in Portugal. I hope that all parties can take action together with the Bloco de Esquerda. We want to ensure that no permanent housing can be pledged. by their own excessive profits from the banks, which this year and a half had profit of 2800 million euros, after paying all the taxes,” he insisted.
For the block coordinator, there are “very large gains from the financial system that can and should fall back on programs that support home loan families” and the ability to write off loans and lower the IRS authorized by the Prime Minister, António Costa is “very little.”
“For a family struggling with the installment at home, any help is welcome. In installments that add up by $100 a month, saying you’re going to cut the interest in the IRS is a drop of water. We can’t even make it to the end of the month.” We don’t want a general default situation that is bad for people who lose their homes and for the economy as a whole,” he defended.
Regarding the tax on extraordinary profits, Catarina Martins accused António Costa of being “overtaken by the left, by the right-wing leaders of several European countries and even by the European Commission”.
“I hear António Costa talking about the excessive profit tax and I seem to be listening to Galp’s lawyer. The profits of the largest Portuguese companies increased by 40% last year and this year by 73% after all taxes have been paid. Here is really a problem of having those who take advantage of the international situation to drive up prices. And yes, it is necessary to discourage and tax,” he said.
On the possibility of specific negotiations with the government on the state budget, Catarina Martins replied: “Absolute majorities are absolute majorities. The PS has done everything it can to get an absolute majority.”
Source: DN
