The coordinator of the Left Bloc, Catarina Martins, defended this Sunday that the response to inflation requires “strong measures” in terms of energy, housing and food prices.
“If the government wants to control inflation, it has a starting point: to impose a ceiling on energy costs”, which covers “electricity, gas and fuel”, said Catarina Martins, in Coimbra.
The blockade leader spoke at the closing of the Socialism 2022 Forum, which takes place at the Avelar Brotero High School, starting on Friday.
“What will the government do when the price of gas condemns the Portuguese to a colder winter? What do you have to say to those who no longer know how to face the successive climbs?” he asked.
To the citizens, the BE “knows what to say,” he assured.
“We tell them that they deserve security and justice: lower VAT, lower energy income and administratively set consumer prices,” he advocated.
For Catarina Martins, workers “cannot continue to lose purchasing power” and BE understands that “the minimum wage, public service salaries and social benefits must be updated.”
“The government can do it and it is the only way to avoid the impoverishment of large sectors of the population,” he warned.
On the other hand, it is important “to curb the cost of housing,” he said.
“What will the government do when rent increases and bank payments turn the housing crisis into a catastrophe? What do you have to say to those who live in the affliction of losing their home”, continued the national coordinator of BE.
These people “deserve security and justice”, he added, to underline the need to “impose a cap of 1% on the updating of income, payment in kind that makes the banks responsible for their credits (whoever delivers the house to the bank cannot continue paying -la)”, as well as “prevent the seizure of the home itself”.
BE also proposes that the António Costa executive and the PS “control food prices”.
“What will the government say when more and more people can no longer access essential food? What do you have to say to these people, beyond a temporary and unpredictable assistance response?
It is up to the Government to guarantee “the setting of reference prices for essential goods, avoiding speculation in large distribution”.
“The new generations start working in worse conditions than the previous ones and having a career, a salary progression or even a decent salary is a mirage. And this is a robbery. Precariousness is an assault. They are stealing from them”, criticized Catarina Martins.
In his opinion, “structurally, the options of the PS are not different from those of liberalism.” [Emmanuel] Macron”, President of France.
“And who, as in Nanni Moretti’s film [cineasta italiano]they expected to hear from this government ‘anything from the left’, after half a year of absolute majority, they are tired of waiting”, affirmed Catarina Martins.
Young people “start working in worse conditions than the previous ones and having a career, a salary progression or even a living wage is a mirage”.
For BE’s leader, “this is a robbery. Precariousness is an assault. They are being robbed.”
“If the money is not enough to pay for the house, it is because they are stealing from you and […] if the supermarket bill increases more than the salary, they are stealing from you”, he considered.
“If you can’t fill up the tank, not even to go to work, you are being robbed. And don’t hesitate: they are sharing the spoils, unpunished and untouchable”, added the BE coordinator.
Catarina Martins challenged the Portuguese to “join forces” against this situation: “if you cannot bear that a government with absolute power allows itself to remain completely passive when it comes to choosing between the country and the elite, then join the left , join the Left Bloc.”
Source: Observadora
