SIC News | National minimum wage. Rio compares Costa to Socrates

Parliament is debating this afternoon the Recovery and Resilience Plan, the general lines of which were presented to the parties on Monday and received criticism from left to right, but the political forces were available to make contributions.

The thematic debate requested by the Government on the “Strategic Vision of the Portugal 2020-2030 Economic Recovery Plan” began at 3:00 p.m., with the opening of the Prime Minister.

Also on Goveno’s bench were the Minister of State and Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, the Minister of State and Economy, Pedro Siza Vieira, and the Minister of Planning, Nelson de Souza.

Costa says responding to the crisis is a design that requires unity

The prime minister considers that the response to the current crisis is a project that requires unity and defended that the implementation of European financial resources in the coming years requires the least bureaucracy and maximum transparency.

“Once again, I invite the political forces represented in this Assembly of the Republic, the social agents, the autonomous communities and the local authorities to make their contribution, because overcoming this crisis is a purpose that should unite us,” he said. António Costa at the opening of the debate.

From the perspective of the Prime Minister, Portugal faces “a triple challenge: controlling the pandemic; recovering from the economic and social crisis that COVID-19 generated; and ensure that, with the recovery, a more robust future is built, with less inequality, more prosperous, more cohesive and more sustainable ”.

Rio asks if the Government wants to “promote unemployment” by increasing the national minimum wage

The president of the PSD questioned the prime minister if he intends to “promote unemployment” with the promise of a “significant increase” in the National Minimum Wage, comparing this attitude with that of the socialist executive led by José Sócrates in 2009.

“It reminds me when the PS government of engineer Socrates increased the number of civil servants by 2.9% without being able to do so and then had to cut those salaries”, criticized Rio.

In response, the Prime Minister expressed his “enormous perplexity” that the Social Democratic leader had spoken in a debate on a strategic issue “without a single idea and without a single proposal for the future.”

“The only idea that [Rui Rio] He revealed was implicit in his concern about the national minimum wage. I even seemed to listen to your predecessor [Pedro Passos Coelho] speak here in 2016, when he argued that raising the minimum wage would destroy job creation, destroy businesses and the economy. But we show your predecessor – and you will also be here to see it – that boosting family incomes is an indispensable condition for revitalizing the economy, ”replied António Costa.

BE and PCP focus on the budget and ignore the government document

The leaders of the BE and the PCP, Catarina Martins and Jerónimo de Sousa, ignored the Government’s Recovery and Resilience Plan, preferring to focus on immediate measures considered urgent and necessary.

Both partners of the PS in the last legislature, together with “Os Verdes”, criticized the position and intentions of the Executive headed by António Costa.

“We are in one of the biggest crises we can remember and, at BE, we are not unaware of the enormous difficulty that the crisis poses for the State and the administrations, but we are just over two weeks away from the delivery by the Government of your proposal of State budget for 2021 and nothing is known, “said the coordinator of the blockade.

According to Catarina Martins, her party seeks “consistent and true measures”, because “time is short” and it is necessary to “discuss, yes, the long term”, but before “resolving emergencies and working on solutions for the country.” .

“We have not found an answer to these questions because it maintains the options and the political orientation that has weakened the country over the years,” said the communist secretary general, referring to the document prepared by the government manager and consultant António Costa Silva, in debate. in the Assembly of the Republic.

For Jerónimo de Sousa, “it is not possible to satisfy the needs of the workers, the people and the country without breaking with the policy” that put Portugal “in this situation”, and the Government “must fight so that community funds are integrated in a national development strategy “and not subject to” the impositions of the European Union.

The parties ask for guarantees, from SNS to bet on the railway

Through the ENP, Deputy Mariana Silva asked António Costa for guarantees that “the acquisition of railway rolling stock, essential for the demographic balance of the territory and for the fair and sustainable development of the country” will be included in this recovery plan.

In a second speech, Deputy José Luís Ferreira highlighted the fear that the application of community funds is a “lost opportunity”, arguing that it is “necessary to think about the future by tracing paths of sustainability” and betting on national production and sovereignty food.

The Liberal Initiative, through the voice of deputy João Cotrim de Figueiredo, characterized the proposal under debate as “a catalog of dozens of measures in which everything is fundamental, that is, nothing is a priority.”

“The Government, instead of doing what is the essence of politics, that is, making decisions, fine-tuning priorities, limited itself to crossing the axes of the Costa Silva plan with the pillars of Brussels, without predicting whether the measures make sense but rather just to see if they can finance, “he said.

André Ventura, from Chega, regretted that the plan separates “the public country” from the “private country”, in a reference investment planned for the State and the business sector, arguing that the division only aims to “please the left” in a “Sort of save yourself if you can.”

The recovery and resilience plan

THE Recovery and Resilience Plan outline foresees an investment of 12,900 million euros in climate and digital transition and resilience, the majority, 3,200 million euros, destined to health and housing.

The Government has divided this plan into three main axes: resilience, climate transition and digital transition. For resilience, which combines social vulnerabilities, productive potential and competitiveness and territorial cohesion, the Government foresees an investment of seven billion euros, more than half of the total, with the majority, 3.2 billion, destined for the National Health Service , Housing and Social Responses.

2,500 million euros are allocated to productive potential, which adds investment and innovation with professional qualifications. For competitiveness and territorial cohesion, 1,500 million euros are foreseen.

For the climate transition, the plan foresees an investment of 2,700 million euros and for the digital transition three billion are destined, divided between schools, companies and the public administration.