The PCP accused the Government on Monday of evading the taxation of extraordinary profits of economic groups in the energy sector, “taking refuge in decisions of the European Union”, and said that “it does not fit” the absolute majority of the Socialists.
The PCP will not give up in this fight, in this battle, for the taxation of the disproportionate profits that the energy economic groups have had in our country. This flight of the PS in relation to the necessary taxation of these profits, taking refuge in decisions of the European Union, is nothing more than the convergence with the interests of economic groups to the detriment of the defense of national interests”, defended the Basque communist leader . Cardoso.
The member of the Political Commission of the PCP spoke on Monday about the country’s energy situation at the party’s headquarters in Lisbon.
Vasco Cardoso was asked about the statements made this Monday by the parliamentary leader of the PS, Eurico Brilhante Dias, at the party’s parliamentary sessions in Leiria, so as not to rule out deepening the measures to combat abusive benefits in the fiscal sphere, although considering it essential that this solution be agreed upon in the European Union so as not to leave Portugal at a “disadvantage”.
Accusing the PS government of “following”, the PCP considers that the country needs to “break with the subordination to the impositions of the EU, advancing with urgent measures that, had they already been adopted, they would have saved the country from the unsustainable situation it finds itself in.”
For the communists, temporary measures are imposed, among them, “price regulation, reduction of VAT on electricity and gas goods” [6%] and, at the same time, the imposition of profits unduly obtained and that are the basis of speculation”.
The government’s refusal to tax these profits objectively places the government on the side of the interests of the economic groups and against the interests of the country, the workers and the people,” Vasco Cardoso stressed.
The leader was also consulted about the declarations of the prime minister, António Costa, who recommended this Sunday to the PS deputies the principle of dialogue, but, above all, he encouraged them to exercise their parliamentary majority without complexes.
Vasco Cardoso stressed that six months before the legislative elections in January, it seems that “in terms of salaries, pensions, public services, development of the national economy, response to the country’s urgent problems, this government not only has no answers, but also It has been confirmed that, with an absolute majority, it is implementing the right-wing policy that the PSD, Chega, the Liberal Initiative and the CDS would probably like to implement.”
“But we are not satisfied with this absolute majority, we call on the workers and the population to mobilize in defense of their rights and here we will be, the PCP, with its initiative, with its proposal, to present an alternative path to the country that so much need,” he concluded.
For the PCP, “what is known about the meeting of the Energy Council held last Friday, and still without definitive conclusions, shows disorientation, but above all that the problems not only will not have an adequate solution but will tend to worsen.”
According to Vasco Cardoso, “it is the flight forward in the service of the interests of US imperialism and NATO and of big European capital.”
“The Government, although it rejects the PCP’s proposals, is deployed in advertisements. But the government’s measures are belated and clearly insufficient. As the government makes announcements, energy prices continue to rise,” he lamented.
Among the measures defended by the communists is also the demand for a “structural change in the Iberian Market (electricity) that puts an end to the current marginalist regime” and “to put the Matosinhos refinery in a state of readiness, as well as the thermal plants that have been closed in the meantime”, due to instability and supply difficulties.
Source: Observadora
