Livre accuses Costa of waking up late to a “crisis” that is now an “emergency.”

On Tuesday, Livre accused the prime minister of recognizing the housing crisis “too late”, allowing it to become an “emergency”, and said bank profits should help repay loans.

“[O primeiro-ministro] he says that today he did not realize the problem, but he definitely realized the crisis too late and allowed the crisis to become an emergency. This emergency situation is driving many people to despair,” said Livre’s sole deputy, Rui Tavares.

A party spokesman spoke to reporters at the Assembly of the Republic in response to Prime Minister António Costa’s Monday evening interview on TVI and CNN Portugal, arguing that it is necessary to “stop the emergency and take measures to prevent it from getting worse.”

One of the party’s proposals relates to installment plans for mortgage loans, emphasizing that “90% of Portuguese people have [de juro] variable”.

“The bank directed its customers to a variable rate. It is impossible to solve this problem without holding the bank that helped create it accountable. It is clear that the bank’s profits should help people pay off their home loans,” he said. he defended.

Another Livre proposal involves “providing rent support” by creating “a criterion in which there is a base price for rent, which can be geographically limited, for example by parish.”

“Prices that are above this base price plus inflation are prices that should be burdened with taxes, and conversely, prices that are below this base price should be encouraged by taxes,” he clarified.

Tavares also proposed the creation of an “emergency housing fund” that would be public and would consist of a “20% surcharge” levied on “non-resident multimillionaires and tax evaders in Portugal.”

Under Livre’s proposal, people could turn to the fund to get money to “go to the bank and make a down payment on their house.”

This house will be “jointly owned with this public trust, with the state, until the person pays the down payment, loaned by the state.”

“If the Prime Minister is disappointed, I think we are all much more disappointed because the government and the PS do not understand the scale of the coming tsunami.” the problem will be solved. In fact, things will get worse before they get better,” he warned.

In this “extraordinary” context, according to the deputy, a “different approach from the government” is required.

Tavares acknowledged that this will be one of the topics that will carry the most weight in deciding how to vote on the government’s 2024 budget proposal.