Aguiar-Branko calls for ‘proactivity’ and ‘good faith’ in budget talks to avoid unwanted crisis

The President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, called this Monday for “proactivity” and “good faith” to reach a “consensus” in the negotiations on the 2025 state budget and avoid the political crisis that he says the Portuguese do not want.

“A methodology is being developed that the government has launched to find space for consensus, for dialogue, so that the budget can be approved as I believe the Portuguese people want,” he explained in a statement to the Lusa Margin 13th Ordinary Parliamentary Assembly of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (AP-CPLP), which opened today in Maputo.

Asked about the political conditions that will make next year’s budget viable, the President of the Assembly of the Republic once again praised the method of the ongoing negotiations in São Bento, calling on everyone to take responsibility.

“I think the methodology is correct, I think the expected activity from both the government and the various parties represented in the Assembly must come from good will. It certainly exists in the interests of national interests above party interests,” he added, assuring that he is convinced that “the Portuguese people do not want early elections.”

“And so it is waiting for its representatives in the Assembly of the Republic to be able to reach a consensus, and so I think the time ahead in terms of approving the budget is right. We are working now and I hope that this consensus will be reached and the budget will be viable,” he concluded.

Asked whether the need for this consensus would be vital for the current political moment in Portugal, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco stressed that it was not desirable to hold legislative elections again.

“This is very important. In a democracy, as they say, there are always solutions, but it is clear that they are fundamental, because we do not want early elections that would not contribute to solving the urgent problems that need to be solved. In the Assembly of the Republic, there are voting mechanisms that allow this consensus to be adopted, taking into account the comments that all parties wish to make regarding the content of the budget.”

The AP-CPLP is led by Equatorial Guinea Senate President Teresa Efua Asangono and is in session in Maputo until Tuesday.

The member states of the CPLP are Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Portugal, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe and Timor-Leste.