PCP, BE and Chega criticized the new increase in interest rates decided by the European Central Bank (ECB) and challenged the Government to force banks to use the benefits to reduce mortgage payments.
The ECB announced this Thursday a new increase of 25 basis points in the three official interest rates, the tenth consecutive increase, which places the deposit rate at the highest historical level in the euro zone.
In statements to journalists in the Assembly of the Republic, the parliamentary leader of BE, Pedro Filipe Soares, accused the ECB of “an action of financial terrorism against families” and of “enormous social insensitivity.”
“It would be incomprehensible if this were combined with the social indifference of the Government (…). It is necessary and essential that the Government guarantee that banks are called upon to use these benefits to reduce mortgage loans,” he stated, highlighting that BE has already presented a proposal in this regard in the past, rejected by the majority of the PS.
“Without this law, we will continue to have only a blessing for the rich,” said Pedro Filipe Soares, pointing to the banking sector’s profits of around two billion euros in the first half of the year.
Along the same lines, the PCP deputy, Duarte Alves, asked the Government and the Bank of Portugal for “a firm position of rejection of this increase in interest rates” and “concrete measures to confront the impositions of the European Union and the euro”.
“Measures such as those presented today by the PCP and that guarantee the reduction of fees, putting the banks’ profits to withstand the increase in interest rates,” he stated, underlining that the banks “are obtaining 11 million euros of profit per day”.
For Duarte Alves, the Government is obliged not only to approve measures like this one from the PCP, but also to mobilize Caixa Geral de Depósitos so that, as a public bank, it assumes a role of influence over “the entire banking market and contributes to the reduction of bank credit”.
News like today’s only gives more strength to the PCP’s proposals,” he argued.
For Chega, deputy Rui Afonso criticized that “half a dozen bureaucrats from Frankfurt manage to dominate the nations”, accusing the ECB of carrying out “blackmail on the countries that make up the euro zone” without any social concern.
“We must have a Government that is not subordinated to Frankfurt, that imposes itself on the monetary policy of the ECB,” he argued, pointing out that there are already hundreds of thousands of Portuguese who “have to choose” between paying rent, food or school. children.
The MP argued that it was necessary to say “enough is enough for banking profits at the expense of rising interest rates”, arguing, like BE and PCP, that “this amount should be transferred to support housing loans”.
As already announced, Chega will bring to the debate scheduled by the PSD for the 20th on tax reduction a proposal to apply an extraordinary contribution to banking, as is already happening in the energy and large-scale distribution sectors.
Source: Observadora
