CDU proposes reform at age 65 and pension increase by 7.5%

The General Secretary of the Communist Party of Portugal, Paulo Raimundo, presented the CDU’s election program this Thursday, emphasizing the need to create a decent country with new measures in several sectors, including health, housing, education and the economy.

Paulo Raimundo spoke of increasing pensions by 7.5%, “by a minimum of 70 euros, with retroactive effect, in the first month of the year,” as well as creating two levels of minimum pensions and subsequently increasing their value. The age for receiving benefits was also specified as 65 years.

Regarding income, the PKP proposed increasing the minimum wage to 1,000 euros “by at least 15%, but not less than 150 euros.” A 35-hour work week was also announced in all industries.

In the healthcare sector, Paulo Raimundo mentioned the end of waiting lists and the retention and retention of professionals in the field with a 25% increase in length of service.

Regarding housing, the importance of regulating the sector was emphasized through the creation of a “special regime” in which banks maintain interest rates, the removal of rent increases and the repeal of eviction laws. Another option mentioned to support access to housing was to ensure an average annual investment in housing of 1% of GDP.

“It is essential that the state quickly assume its responsibilities and move decisively towards an urgent public housing program that will deliver an average annual value of public housing investment of 1% of GDP, which includes the provision of 50,000 new public housing,” he ruled.

On the education side, increasing the value of public schools and the educational community has been described based on recognizing seniority that is denied to teachers, hiring professionals, and reducing class sizes. Further, another problem was the retention of young people in the country, part of the solution to which was the abolition of tuition fees, increased wages and the right to housing.

Investments and interventions in the railway, Lisbon airport, hospitals and residential buildings were also mentioned. At the transport network level, it was proposed to reduce fares and create a state operator. The CDU is also seeking to end tolls.

Import substitution, support for micro- and medium-sized businesses and other measures to support fisheries, industry and agriculture were also announced.

Paulo Raimundo said the CDU’s electoral program is “fair, necessary and urgent” and “requires a break with the path the country has been heading towards for decades” and with “right-wing politics.”

“The options that we express in this electoral program, in this commitment that we have established before the Portuguese people, are options of rupture and therefore they hardly fit into the neoliberal logic, into the corset of austerity or into the so-called correct reports. “,” he said, adding that this is achievable because it includes measures such as ending the transfer of public resources to the private sector, stopping “the leakage of national resources abroad” and “refocusing economic policy on growth.”

The PKP Secretary General criticized the PS for “confirming the desire to move in the wrong direction”, as well as the SDP and SDS, which “want to return to 2011”, as well as Chegu and IL, which are “trying to present themselves as a new face, but with very old ideas” .

“From all of them now these are only promises and intentions for tomorrow, if they come to power, to justify the impossibility of realizing the promises made now,” he criticized.

In response to the arrests that occurred as a result of the operations carried out, Paulo Raimundo noted that there is a belief that there is justice for some and another for others, adding that it is necessary to promote the establishment of the truth so that every citizen has confidence in judicial decisions.