On Tuesday, the PS again called on the government to fulfil its “legal information obligations” to parliament under the Framework Budget Act, stressing that the lack of documents affects the budget debate.
“It remains to provide a multiannual framework for public expenditure – mandatory under Article 34 of the aforementioned Law – as well as the opinion of the Economic and Social Council (CES) on the main options for the 2024-2028 Plan,” the PS parliamentary group said in a note published on Tuesday.
According to the Socialists, the two letters sent by the executive to Parliament on August 30, containing the “Concept of a constant policy for 2025” and the “Concept of a multi-annual structuring of investments for 2023-2025”, “correspond only to some of the provisions provided for in the Framework Law on the Budget”.
The PS therefore sent a “new request” to the President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, in which he reaffirms the need for the government to comply with the law.
The Socialist judge claims that the government has “only partially fulfilled its information obligations to Parliament” and again demands the multi-annual structure of public expenditure and the CES opinion on the “Great Options” for 2024-2028.
“This failure to comply with the law affects the ability of MPs to carry out their role of monitoring the government’s activities, and the absence of the elements requested at the beginning of August by the PS Secretary General hinders the party’s assessment of the negotiation process that the government launched in July,” he insists.
PS recalls that, as part of the negotiation process to present the state budget for 2025, Pedro Nuno Santos has already sent a letter to the Prime Minister asking him to “inform about the projected development of the budgetary situation for 2024, as well as the budgetary scenario for 2025 in an unchanged policy.”
“These elements have not yet been made available, despite their criticality for the work of preparing serious and consistent negotiations within the framework of the PS commitment to balancing public accounts,” the PS parliamentary group also states.
Last Friday, during a meeting of the Socialist Academy in Tomar, MP Pedro Vaz said that the information provided by his party’s government “does not respond” to the letter sent by Pedro Nuno Santos, and warned that without this data it would be difficult to agree on the state budget for 2025.
“Without this information, we will hardly be able to conduct negotiations,” the PS leader warned.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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