PCP says government housing strategy doesn’t solve problems

The Secretary General of the PKP said this Friday in Alcochet that the 30 measures announced by the government in the housing sector are in the interests of banking and real estate speculation, but do not solve the problems of the sector.

“We have a housing program that exactly meets the great wishes of real estate speculators, large groups of speculators and banks,” Paulo Raimundo said, speaking to reporters at the end of a public meeting attended by about fifty supporters in the municipality of Samouco. Alcochete, in the district of Setúbal.

“Of the 30 measures, there is not a single one that infringes on the interests of the bank. Worse, not only does it not infringe, but the state again becomes the main guarantor of the bank,” he added.

Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said today that the new housing strategy, which includes a set of 30 measures, aims to “restore the confidence” of the Portuguese, in contrast to the previous government’s program, which was “still in its infancy and was already doomed to failure”.

But according to the communist leader, the AD government’s strategy does not include two measures that the PCP considers fundamental to solving Portugal’s housing problem: stopping rent increases and lowering interest rates.

“There are two fundamental issues: first, stop income growth, and then intervene on interest rates. banks that make millions and millions of euros at the expense of people’s lives,” said Paulo Raimundo.

Regarding the government’s lack of response to the demands of the police, teachers, court workers and other sectors, Paulo Raimundo recalled that the current Prime Minister made many promises during the election campaign and that he will now have to fulfill them.

“The government placed its hopes, and fair ones, in the security specialists, doctors, nurses, teachers and judicial officials it promised to solve the problems,” he said.

“The government has no conditions to renege on its promises. And there is no need to come up with excuses that there are no funds, that there are no conditions and that it has found another situation. No, the Government knew the situation, knew the requirements and stated what they stated in the election campaign. He will have to submit, he will have to submit,” he emphasized.

Faced with the possibility of a possible deterioration in the state of public accounts to meet all demands, Paulo Raimundo said that this was not necessary and that the government simply needed to abolish tax breaks for economic groups in order to immediately raise some 1,600 million euros.

“The government must now stop providing tax breaks to economic groups, and it has €1,600 million. There are 1,600 million euros of tax breaks for large companies, those that have 25 million euros of profit per day, for banking, for EDP, for Galp. Complete this and immediately allocate 1,600 million euros,” said Paulo Raimundo.