A proposal, a poster, a political signal: the PSD will bet everything to force the socialists to participate in the discussion on the sustainability of the Social Security system. And as long as the PS does not assume that there is a problem in the accounts, Luís Montenegro’s order is to play dead in the debate and fire the rockets in the short term, even if that means overtaking António Costa on the left.
“Everyone already realizes that in Portugal misses elections when you start talking about pensions”, a prominent Social Democratic leader concedes to the Observer. “Of course, the sustainability of Social Security is at stake. And of course the 8% increases are crazy. But enough of us always being the straight. They are going to whistle to the side and we are going to whistle to the side. When they [socialistas] ask for help, let’s discuss”, concludes another.
On Monday, the Social Democrats entered Parliament with a proposal to correct the Government’s shot: they not only defended the extension to pensioners of the aid of 125 euros that will be delivered in October to active citizens, but they also want the law applied as designed. In other words: that pensions are updated according to inflation (8 to 9%) in 2023.
Before that, on September 15, the Social Democrats took the fight to the streets and launched a new set of outdoor where the message is clear: “socialist austerity” means a cut of “1,000 million euros in future pensions”, it can be read; with Luís Montenegro, who appears to greet, presumably, a retiree, there will be no “pension cuts for the future”.
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Source: Observadora
