PCP General Secretary asks Costa about the practical implications of a “raised voice” in the ECB

This Saturday, the PKP general secretary urged the PS to endorse partisan measures in areas such as housing or price fixing, warning that it is not enough for the prime minister to “raise his voice” against European Central Bank policies. (ECB).

Presenting the conclusions of the PKP Central Committee meeting at the party’s national headquarters in Lisbon, Paulo Raimundo defended that “the government cannot remain silent and immobile” in the face of the decision to raise interest rates. , given that the criticism of Antonio Costa is made in Brussels.

“The Prime Minister raised his voice, but it’s of little use unless concrete measures are taken. It was even a voice raised with some controversy,” he said.

António Costa said on Thursday that the ECB “does not understand enough” the nature of the inflationary cycle, arguing that “today it is more or less clear that, first of all, the increase in extraordinary profits did more to maintain inflation than wage growth.”

The Communist leader expressed his agreement with this analysis and urged the Prime Minister to be consistent and set prices for essential goods and services, as well as to approve the PKP proposal so that, as during the pandemic, a moratorium on home loans is introduced. for a period not exceeding two years, during which families pay only interest at the rate at which banks finance themselves.

“Statements are either verbal or must have consequences, otherwise we will stop believing. PS and the socialist government now have the opportunity to approve our proposals under the More Housing package, which will materialize the alleged disagreement with the ECB,” he said.

The Secretary General of the PKP also expressed his hope that the measures that the party puts forward for discussion and vote next Friday can be approved in a tentative timetable, in a diploma that aims to reduce taxes on workers and pensioners, increase the taxation of economic groups. through tax incentives and reduced VAT on electricity, gas and telecommunications.

“Let’s see how others, who talk about taxes every day, behave in the discussion and vote for the proposals of the PKP,” he challenged.

In the area of ​​housing, in addition to the moratorium proposal, the Secretary General of the PKP also considered that the state should assume a central role in brokering the review of housing loans between individuals and banks, as well as setting the Caixa Geral de Depósitos “mandatory maximum spread of 2.5 %.

In his opening speech, Paulo Raimundo reiterated that “propaganda of high economic performance does not correspond to the living conditions of the majority of the population” and called for “intensifying the struggle” of the workers.

“All the means and instruments of big business (political, economic, media) are mobilized to consolidate its power and ensure that the most that can be sought is a change of faces or parties,” he criticized.

The Central Committee’s communiqué stressed that the party rejects “inevitability or blackmail, whether it be a possible dissolution and holding of elections, or an escalation of dangers to the survival of right-wing politics.”

The central committee of the PKP has been meeting since Friday to analyze the “political and social situation” and the tasks of the party, this was the third meeting of this body since Paulo Raimundo took over as general secretary.