Livre spokesman Rui Tavares said on Friday that the government had demonstrated a “diametrically opposed” vision to his party on budgetary issues and that Livre would only support it if the executive presented a “truly social and environmental” programme.
“Our views are diametrically opposed, if the government does not abandon its budget, which is a more liberal budget that supports the most powerful and rich sectors of society, in favor of a truly social and environmental program, we will have a very large distance, a very wide river that divides us,” said Rui Tavares.
The Livre representative spoke to journalists at the Prime Minister’s official residence in São Bento after a meeting on the state budget with the Ministers of State and Finance Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, President António Leitão Amaro and the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pedro Duarte.
According to the leader of Livre, the government must come to the idea that “this budget must be drawn up by several hands” and not follow the speech that “the government made: ‘either this, or these are the twelfths, or early elections'”.
“The government (…) should realise that it will have to discuss the budget in parliament much more openly than it is, at least for now, announcing. This transformation has not yet happened,” he added.
Rui Tavares recalled that the government does not have a parliamentary majority to approve the next budget and that, although the Livre deputies are not enough to form a majority, the party “intends to present a budgetary counter-proposal” because it believes that “the democratic debate on budgetary issues in our country can change.”
The Livre MP defended the need for a “commitment to fairness and investment” in relation to the budget surplus and criticised the executive for using the budget deficit “in the interests of those who already benefit the most”.
The government is meeting with parties holding seats in parliament today to discuss the 2025 state budget.
The prime minister was originally scheduled to attend these meetings. However, due to health reasons, Luis Montenegro cancelled his attendance at all political events until Sunday.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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