The prime minister on Wednesday accused the PSD of paternalism and promoting a charitable state by proposing food vouchers, pointing out that the package of measures proposed by the Social Democrats is less than half that of the government.
“Families must have self-determination and freedom to manage as they wish and the State does not have to put itself in a paternalistic position saying ‘I give this support, but it is only to buy food,'” defended António Costa, highlighting the merits of the aid from 125 euros that the Government will allocate to each active citizen.
The leader of the executive was confronted by journalists, in Faro, with the statements of the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who defended that “the PSD helped a lotto the implementation of the package of extraordinary measures of the government, had “sense of State and contributed”.
I am not talking about the President of the Republic and it is not precisely for the Prime Minister to comment on the PSD, but what I remember here in the Algarve is that the leader of the PSD presented a package of measures that, in terms of their total amount, was less than half of the amount of the program that we are now presenting and ours is destined exclusively for families”, said António Costa.
“It is intended for families, not only for those families that were covered by the PSD package, but, for example, the extraordinary support of 125 euros for each active citizen covers not only the most needy people who, throughout this year, support of 120 euros has already been granted, but it covers all those who earn up to 2,700 euros gross per month on average”, he continued.
The President of the Government stressed that this support is not made “based on a food voucher, it is a income that families will have to managebecause people need to eat, but they also need to pay for the house, they also have children to take care of, they also have other needs and, above all, they must have the freedom to manage their budget.”
“It shouldn’t be the state, in a charitable way, saying ‘there are Xs here, but you can only spend on food,'” he stressed, speaking on the sidelines of the Faro airport’s designation ceremony as Gago Coutinho airport, in honor of the centenary of the first air crossing of the South Atlantic, connecting Lisbon with Rio de Janeiro and on the day that marks the 200th anniversary of Brazil’s independence.
The Government approved this Monday a package of measures to support income due to the rise in inflation, which include the extra payment of half pension, which will be made in October, and a support of 125 euros that will be delivered to all residents without pension. a monthly gross income of up to 2,700 euros.
How does the anti-inflationary package affect your pocket? 25 answers
That day, the President of the Republic considered that the support package for families announced by the Government is “a balanced solution”, considering that “the PSD has helped a lot” and that there is “an implicit consensus”.
Asked if a broad consensus will be possible, in the face of criticism from the PSD and the rest of the opposition, the head of state considered that “the opposition has to say that it is short”, but highlighted the role of the Social Democrats, who also presented their proposals for a social emergency program.
Postponed, altered, ignored. Government leaves PSD emergency package in drawer
“I think the PSD helped a lot, you can’t imagine how it helped, he spoke before, he admitted an injection of money directly to families and the increase in spending, it is a significant turnaround for the PSD. This turn is good for the PS, which would be if the PSD said ‘there they are spending money,’” she said.
For Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, “the PSD had a sense of State and contributed”considering that this means “an implicit consensus” between the two major parties.
The social emergency program of the PSD was presented in detail this Friday, for an amount of some 1,500 million euros, which implies the reduction of energy VAT to the minimum rate (6%), the allocation of a food voucher amounting to 40 euros per month to all pensioners and retirees who have a pension/retirement of up to 1,108 euros, between September and December of this year, and to all citizens in active life and who obtain income up to the third level of the IRS, during the same period.
Source: Observadora
