BE and PCP criticize budget surplus due to worsening living conditions

BE and PCP criticized this Monday the 1.2% budget surplus recorded in 2023, considering that it “stems from a lack of response” to the problems of the population and the demands of the various professional sectors.

The National Institute of Statistics (INE) reported on Monday that Portugal recorded a historic budget surplus of 1.2% last year, exceeding the Finance Ministry’s official forecast of 0.8%.

Speaking to journalists at the national headquarters of the PCP in Lisbon, after a meeting with this party, BE coordinator Mariana Mortagua emphasized that the management that the absolute majority of the PS exercised with public accounts had an impact “on the degradation of social conditions.”

“Part of this degradation of social conditions is connected precisely with the degradation of public services, with the wars that were waged on the professionals necessary for public services and the country, from security forces to social protection services, doctors, nurses, diagnosticians. technicians, teachers, a lot of people,” he criticized.

According to the BU leader, “PS, although showing ever greater surpluses and always exceeding what it predicted, planned, denied a response to these very important sectors”, just as “it denied a response to housing for access to health” .

“And this is one of the reasons and one of the main elements of the diagnosis that we make regarding this shift to the right: it is a grievance that gets worse (…) when public reporting makes it possible to respond to many of these demands. “, he decreed.

In the same vein, PCP general secretary Paulo Raimundo argued that “the historical surplus is due to the lack of response to teachers, public services, the shortage of doctors, career recognition and evaluation, the response to judicial officials.” government’s ability to make public investments.”

“The result of disinvestment in people, in life, in public services is transferred into this budget surplus. Have we become better? The country has become better, has everyone become better off with this budget surplus? No, it got worse. We haven’t gained much from this budget surplus,” he said.

According to Paulo Raimundo, “there was someone who got away with this budget surplus and who will continue to do well, but people’s lives have become worse.”

Asked whether the PCP will look bad if it does not now make a viable budget with amendments that increase the salaries of teachers, judicial officials, security forces and health workers, Paulo Raimundo said one must ask “why these problems have gotten to this point.” what they are.”

“There were financial conditions to respond to these problems. There was a clear choice on the part of the PS, which was not to react to the problems. This was the biggest problem. We could have avoided a lot of problems in everyone’s lives if we had acted on these issues,” he said.

In these statements to journalists, the leaders of the two parties were also questioned about the fact that the PSD proposed the name of José Pedro Aguiar-Branco as President of Parliament and Hugo Soares as Leader of Parliament, but they refused to comment.