Finance Minister Fernando Medina this Saturday declared an “ideological victory” for the Socialist Party government thanks to an economic development strategy that balances the budget, and said that the right-wing recipe cannot be repeated.
In his speech at the 24th National Congress of the PS, at the Lisbon International Fair (FIL) as leader of the Socialists, Fernando Medina called the last eight years of government “a period of achievements for the Portuguese and for the country”, which represents “an ideological victory of social democracy in the face of all ideological movements, especially the right.”
“In developing the economy, we have always championed the need to create more jobs, higher wages, more social protection, more skills for the Portuguese, more investment in science and technology, more innovation and more exports. We managed to achieve results,” he ruled.
According to Fernando Medina, when faced with economic problems, “the response of the right is austerity, devaluation of wages, devaluation of the welfare state and its regression, and tax cuts for large companies.”
The finance minister then referred to the SDP’s objections to raising the national minimum wage, which is seen as a “risk to the competitiveness” of companies.
“The minimum wage has risen over this period from €505 to €820 – plus €315 per worker – and at the same time our economy is stronger, produces more, has more jobs and provides better wages for everyone. We won this ideological battle,” he added.
Medina also pointed out the right’s preference for the acronym “IRC for large companies” instead of the IRS, also declaring an “ideological victory” for the PS.
The PS follows a “policy of defense, protection and development of the welfare state,” while the “right-wing alternative” is to “transfer resources to finance private enterprises in our country,” he said, concluding: “This is an alternative that has failed in all countries , and we cannot even agree that it will be repeated even as a hypothesis in our country.”
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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