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The general secretary of the PCP summarized this Thursday the “war” over public accounts with the Government “finding justifications for not fulfilling what was promised” and the PS “trying to apologize for the wrong decisions” at the budgetary level.
“We do not need deputies in the Assembly of the Republic who form majorities so that, after assuming the Government, they come to justify why they cannot fulfill the promises they make today. And that is what is happening,” argued the leader of the PCP, Paulo Raimundo.
In statements to journalists in Beja, on the sidelines of a visit he made this afternoon to the Ovibeja agricultural fair, the communist general secretary stated that Government “is finding justifications for not fulfilling what was promised” to various sectors or at least delay the proposals he made as much as possible.”
And at the same time, “We have the Socialist Party trying to apologize for the wrong decisions they made. from a budgetary point of view,” he compared.
“Ultimately, this so-called war is that, nothing more, some apologizing for the mistakes they made and others creating the conditions to justify why they are not going to fulfill what they promised,” he highlighted.
And, he continued, “in the midst of all this, the mussels, the ranchers and agriculture are the ones who don’t care.”
This Thursday, the Minister of Finance estimated the deficit recorded until the end of the first quarter of this year at around 600 million euros and accused the previous Government of having increased spending after the last legislative elections.
“The budget situation is much worse than what the previous Government had announced,” declared Joaquim Miranda Sarmento at the end of the Council of Ministers.
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The minister indicated that, to the 300 million euros of deficit recorded in the last summary of budget execution, it is important to add another 300 million euros as a result of the increase in debts with suppliers.
According to the head of the Finance portfolio, some of the observed spending increases occurred after the early legislative elections on March 10.
Miranda Sarmento also added that the current executive is carrying out “an exhaustive study” of 108 resolutions approved by the Council of Ministers after the resignation of António Costa on November 7.
“I can already identify three important amounts that were promises without budgetary relevance: 100 million euros in support for farmers to fight the drought in the Algarve and Alentejo; 127 million euros for the purchase of vaccines against Covid-19; and 200 million euros for the recovery of the School Park,” he added.
Also this Thursday, in statements to journalists, following Miranda Sarmento’s statements, former Finance Minister Fernando Medina (PS) denied that Portugal presents a budgetary problem.
And he maintained that the budget execution reflects changes in withholdings and extraordinary expenses, remembering that it does not include balances carried over between the State and Social Security.
“Values in public accounting are very easy to explain. Firstly, they are the result of the true, effective and lowering fiscal policy that the PS Government has adopted,” stated Fernando Medina.
The former official also explained that the growth in pension spending until March is being greater this year than last year and pointed out the impact of a series of extraordinary expenses, such as those related to the rate deficit, the State’s judicial procedures or the support of 100 million euros for farmers due to the drought.
Source: Observadora
