Costa says the right-wing opposition is confused and doesn’t know what to say

The Prime Minister said this Wednesday that the political right is “perplexed” and does not know what to say about the proposed 2024 budget, arguing that their lines of demarcation with socialist governments have collapsed.

This criticism of the PSD, Liberal Initiative and Cega benches was made by António Costa following the speech of Socialist parliamentary leader Eurico Brillante Díaz in the first two-week debate since the revision of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly of the Republic last year. July.

“The right-wing opposition is completely confused and doesn’t know what to say. They’ve already said a little bit of everything: that the budget was pipi, well presented and cheap; they have already said that I am a Portuguese communist; and the Liberal Initiative even said that I have three hands,” commented the leader of the executive branch, causing laughter among the PS deputies.

From the point of view of António Costa, the problem of the right-wing opposition forces is truly fundamental, especially after the “consistent failure of all the lines of demarcation that they tried to draw in the face of socialist governments” since November 2015.

These lines of demarcation, according to the prime minister, convey the idea that socialist governments are not good managers of public accounts, that markets and foreign investors do not trust them and that PS leaders “are friends of the big state” and higher taxes.

“They repeated that the PS did not know how to be a good manager of public accounts. History has already contradicted this, but the last eight years have demonstrated the opposite. Our fiscal policies have worked well, the country has grown on average ten times more in the 15 years to 2015, we have maximum employment, incomes have increased, Portugal has moved closer to the European Union in a way that has not happened since the beginning of this century and – tragedy of tragedies for the right “Despite all this, the truth is that government accounts are becoming more balanced,” he said.

António Costa then mentioned the budget surplus achieved in 2019, the forecast of a positive balance this year and also expected in 2024, “with a sustainable reduction in public debt to protect the future of the Portuguese.”

“As for the great hope of the right that the socialists would lead the country to hell, it turns out that the socialists did not lead the country to hell. We came out of hell when the cuts in wages and pensions ended and there was a huge increase in taxes” by the PSD/CDS-PP government of Pedro Passos Coelho, he added.

The second line of demarcation that the political right tried to draw against socialist leaders, according to António Costa, was to spread the idea that attracting investment was at stake and that markets did not trust PS governments.

“The truth is that the debt ratio is lower not only in Greece and Italy, but also in comparison with Spain, France and Belgium. And every year, Portugal breaks records for business investment and foreign direct investment, which totaled $32 billion in 2022. euro,” he clarified after referring to issues previously raised in the past in parliament by the “non-existent CDS.”

The third line of demarcation on the right, still according to the executive leader, was the “narrative” that socialists would be friends of the “big state” and that they would “undermine” taxpayers.

“In fact, we increased investment in the National Health Service and education, but this was not done by increasing taxes on the Portuguese. This was done despite tax cuts for the Portuguese, in particular by the IRS,” he said.

According to António Costa, the forces to the right of the IPS are considering the government’s draft budget for 2024 “with great irritation.”

“A couple with two children, each with an income of 1,500 gross per month, will pay 874 euros less to the IRS in 2024 than today. But what harms PSD even more is that if the rule was in force on the last day, his Government will pay an additional 2,404 euros in 2015,” he added.