The Government approved this Thursday, at a meeting of the Council of Ministers, the exceptional support for vulnerable families that will be paid this month, amounting to 240 euros. According to the Executive, the support will cover a total of one million 37 thousand homes.

The Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, who spoke to journalists at the end of the meeting, took the opportunity to recall that two extraordinary benefits have already been paid to this group, which the Government considers to be in “more vulnerable conditions”. (in April and July, in both cases for amounts of 60 euros, which add up to 128 million euros in aid, he added)—, the opposition having criticized precisely, on the one hand, the specificity of the aid and, on the other hand, the fact that it does not apply to the middle classes.

As the Observer had already explained, the support will begin to be processed on December 23, the official recalled. And he will mean an expense of 249 million euros for the public coffers.

And in that, where is the deficit target (which António Costa announced this week will be lower than expected)? The Minister of the Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, defended that the policy of certain accounts means using “totally” the “existing margin for political decisions” to increase family income or invest in public services. “It’s not the existence of a goal per se,” she stressed.

“The economy grew more than expected. We are complying with what we said we would do”, justified Vieira da Silva. “We said that we would permanently evaluate according to the duration of the inflationary phenomenon and now we return all the margin that there is.”

Minister defends “positive discrimination”

Mendes Godinho also wanted to respond to the criticism that the Government has heard, giving a concrete example of a family benefiting from the support: a couple in which both receive the national minimum wage and who have two children, in a position to receive the support, You have already received 120 euros this year, in addition to the 350 euros from the Families First program, and you will have this new amount in December. “Throughout the year you will receive 710 euros of extraordinary aid, paid according to the moment in which we live” and designed mainly for families who may be suffering the effects of inflation more. He added a fact: two thirds of the beneficiaries are more vulnerable women, “who should have full priority.”

“We give extraordinary financial support and not food vouchers, so that people have the ability, through their choice, to decide very well what to invest that money in, which is theirs by right,” he also shot. The value calculation mechanism was based on the price of an average basket and the effects that inflation had on the inflation evolution of these products in the second half of the year; Regarding the characterization of the people who will receive this amount, defined the Ministry of Labor, 49% receive family allowance, 27% receive a solidarity supplement for the elderly, 16% RSI and 5% unemployment benefits (with some receiving benefits simultaneously).

Who will receive it and when will the new support of 240 euros arrive?

In response to the journalists, who recalled the criticism of the Executive for limiting support to the most needy families, the minister defended the option of “positive discrimination” and recalled other “instruments” that have been used, such as the package to reduce rises in energy prices or the multi-year agreement to increase wages negotiated in the social dialogue. The idea will also go through seeing this support as “emergency support”, stressed Mendes Godinho, underlining that “the consequences of inflation are different for these families”.

Who will receive it and when will the new support of 240 euros arrive?

Mariana Vieira da Silva, also reinforced the argument, recalling other support, such as the energy package or those for companies, to say that in the set of these reinforcements it can be seen that the Government is supporting the solution in a more “integral” way. ”. “This framing should not be missed. The Government has been evaluating the evolution of inflation step by step and adapting the responses”.

Government confirms minimum wage increase

In addition to the extraordinary support, the Executive also approved this Thursday the increase in the national minimum wage, which in 2023 will thus go from the current 705 euros to 760 euros.

This jump of 55 euros will thus be the “greatest increase in history in absolute terms”, announced the Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, and was negotiated within the framework of the income agreement with the social partners – that is, In fact, one more step in the calendar that the Government had already established and that should lead to successive increases up to 900 euros in 2026, at the end of the legislature. Regarding the hypothesis that the Government would even admit going beyond 900 euros, the minister limited herself to saying that the amounts that are programmed will be evaluated.

For now, the goal is to reach 2026 with a total increase in the minimum wage of 78% since 2015, that is, since the beginning of the António Costa governments, to demonstrate that the Executive gives a “great priority” to wages, especially at a time when he is being attacked by the opposition for the effects of inflation in the pockets of families.

Marcelo fears that it will be concluded that the execution of the PRR should have been the subject of a greater debate

Government “shares” Marcelo’s concern about European funds

In response to the journalists, and questioned about the concern shown by the President of the Republic with the levels of execution with European funds, Minister Mariana Vieira da Silva also highlighted that the Recovery and Resilience Plan has its own methodology for monitoring its execution, which will be available weekly and also to the public. “Everyone, the Government in the foreground, but all those who intervene in our public space have the same level of concern, from the beginning.”

“We always said that it was particularly demanding” this period in which Portugal has several different European funds to implement, he recalls, referring to the PRR, PT2020 and PT2030. Marcelo’s concern is “legitimate” and “shared” by the minister herself, who says that the responsibility is not only of the Executive, but of the “country” as a whole.

Regarding the rise in interest rates, he also added that the Government decided its measures to mitigate these impacts on mortgage loan installments according to the “effective impact” of the increases determined by the banks and not with the “perception” overview of the situation. Even so, he once again assured that the will to “evaluate step by step” is “permanent”, at a time when the rise in interest rates afflicts many Portuguese families.

Vieira da Silva was also asked about António Costa’s interview with Visão and the lack of answers the prime minister has given journalists in recent weeks, but declined to comment. “They don’t expect me to comment on the Prime Minister’s interview at the Cabinet briefing, as I never have and never will. I do not have nothing to add.”