PCP criticizes government for failing to stop rent increases

PCP leader Paulo Raimundo criticized the government’s proposals for a new housing package this Thursday, saying that none of them will “stop the rise of rents” and will not “squeeze a cent” from banks and real estate funds.

“None of them stops the growth of income and none of them takes away a single cent from the main beneficiaries of the current situation – banks and real estate funds,” said the communist secretary general.

Paulo Raimundo, who spoke to journalists during a visit to the Hercules laboratory at the University of Évora, stressed that of the 30 measures presented to opposition parties, “not one answers these two fundamental questions.”

“Banks will once again report record profits in the first quarter of this year, and banks and real estate funds will not be required to contribute a cent to help solve the housing problem,” he stressed.

On the other hand, according to the PKP leader, the government proposes these 30 housing measures “in accordance with the interests of banks and real estate funds.”

“The government is not trying to solve the problem, but rather ‘adding problem to problem,'” he stressed.

Noting that the “starting points” of the proposals of the PCP and the government are “very disparate and completely different,” Paulo Raimundo admitted that it would be difficult to find consensus on this issue.

“I don’t see any way to reconcile these two different realities,” he added.

Regarding the visit to the Hercules Laboratory, the Communist Party General Secretary said the country must change the direction of scientific and technological research in the country to ensure job stability for specialists in the field.

“We may have, as in this particular case, and fortunately well-equipped laboratories in terms of equipment, but if those who have to use them have an unstable reality, they become crippled,” he warned.

This Thursday morning, the government met with all parties represented in Parliament with a view to including their proposals in the Build Portugal housing program.

The program, announced last Friday, includes, among other measures, the creation of a public guarantee aimed at young people buying their first home, a change in the wording of the Porta 65 program and the abolition of the Emergency Local Contribution (CEAL) and the expiration of the license and opportunity transfers. Construir Portugal also aims to “bring back flexibility and confidence to renters and landlords.”