Paulo Raimundo accused the PS, PSD and CDS, “whom Chega and IL now want to join”, of being “committed to European capitalist integration at the service of the great powers and monopolies.”
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The general secretary of the PCP considered this Tuesday that the new European budget rules They are “one more attack” on national sovereignty and he accused the PS and the right of giving in with “enthusiasm to the orders coming from Brussels.”
At a press conference at the Jean Monnet European Center, in Lisbon, to present the balance of the PCP MEPs in the European Parliament, Paulo Raimundo accused the PS, the PSD and the CDS, “whom Chega e now want to join IL”, if “committed to European capitalist integration at the service of the great powers and monopolieswith its federalist, militarist and neoliberal character.”
The communist leader recalled that these five parties voted, last week, against the PCP draft resolution that recommended the suspension of the Stability Program presented by the Government, “and curiously they did so on the same day” that the European Parliament approved, with your votes, the new European budget rules.
These rules are “another attack on our sovereignty, another piece of greater capacity of the European Union (EU) to determine the options that only the country can make,” he criticized, arguing that what is currently required “is to give more strength to the courage to face the current situation.
is not givingmore support for the expressed will [pela UE], as PS, PSD, CDS, Chega and IL do, supporting, I would even say enthusiastically, the orders that come from Brussels,” he stated.
Criticism of the new European budget rules, which came into force this Tuesday, was also made by the head of the CDU list for the elections to the European Parliament, João Oliveira, who guaranteed that the coalition will combat “blackmail to reduce public spending , recently promised to the European Parliament by PS, PSD and CDS.”
“The strength of the CDU [no Parlamento Europeu] made and will make a difference by rejecting the neoliberal manualliberalizations and privatizations, the commercialization of public services, the attack on social and labor rights, restrictive budget policies,” he assured.
João Oliveira also highlighted that the CDU “will face the discussion of the financial perspectives after 2027” and “will reject the end of the principle of unanimity, which mainly harms countries like Portugal.”
Asked if he does not fear that there will be a demobilization of voters in the European elections and if he believes that the campaign will revolve around European issues as requested by the Prime Minister, João Oliveira once again referred to the new European budget rules to highlight that AD candidates “We will certainly try to find elements of distraction or dispersion in the national reality”.
“The reform of economic governance and the Stability Pact was approved in the European Parliament with the votes of the deputies of the PS, PSD and CDS and mean more difficulties. (…) It is natural that, in this aspect, the AD candidates want to divert attention so that no one comes to hold them responsible,” he stated.
Having at his side the current PCP MEPs Sandra Pereira and João Pimenta Lopes, as well as the head of the CDU list for the 2019 Europeans, João Ferreira – replaced by Pimenta Lopes in the European Parliament in 2021 -, João Oliveira considered The work carried out by the three confirmed the CDU “as the voice of the workers and the people” in Brussels.
According to a report published by the PCP, in the last legislature, between 2019 and 2024, the party’s MEPs “made more than 517 interventions in plenary, around 525 written questions to the European Commission and the Council, 3,076 voting statements and “They assumed the position of direct responsibility for the follow-up of 71 complaints.”
João Ferreira highlighted that the last five years were, at the European level, marked by issues such as the covid-19 pandemic, the approval of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027, “marked by a cut in transfers to Portugal”the war in Ukraine and the Middle East and the rising cost of living.
TO European Union (EU) This Tuesday, new community deficit and public debt rules came into force, given the reform of the bloc’s budgetary rules, which member states will begin to apply in 2025 after developing their national plans.
It is planned to resume the budgetary rules after the suspension due to Covid-19 and the war, but with a new formulation, despite the usual ceilings of 60% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for public debt and 3% of GDP for the deficit. .
Now it is also defined that public debt will be reduced by at least one percentage point per year for countries with a debt ratio greater than 90% of GDP (as is the case of Portugal) and by half a percentage point for those that are between this ceiling and the level of 60% of GDP.
Source: Observadora
