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For 2020, João Leão’s accounts point to a deficit between seven and 7.5 percent, also with an upward revision in relation to what is foreseen by the Government. The number complies with the forecasts of the Council of Public Finance.
Moments before the numbers are announced, and at a time when the general lines of OE2021 are being presented to the parties, António Costa showed confidence in a “good solution” on the left, noting that last week the Left Bloc presented another set of proposals.
“We will continue working and safely we will find a good solution to have a good budget in 2021 that responds to what is a priority, which is to respond to the economic and social crisis facing the country, ”he told the press.
António Costa’s words came at a time when, in Parliament, the Minister of State and Finance, João Leão, and the Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Duarte Cordeiro, began to present to the parties the general lines of the Budget of the Status for 2021.
PSD was the first to listen to the government’s proposals and, at the end of the meeting, said that it maintained the concerns it already had about the macroeconomic scenario for 2021.
“From the data we heard from the Minister of Finance, once again we are convinced that there is a much greater concern for public investment, with the public sector, and less with the private sector ”, lamented the PSD deputy, Afonso Oliveira.
We hope that, until the day of the presentation of the EO, this concern for the economy and the need for economic recovery that involves companies, jobs, workers from all over the country will be on the government’s mind ”.
The Social Democratic deputy said that he still did not understand if an agreement with the Left Bloc and the Communist Party on the Budget has already been concluded, so he is still waiting to see what will come out of these negotiations.
BE demands a response to the country’s priorities
The PSD was followed by the Left Bloc in the meetings to present OE2021. At the exit, the bloc deputy Pedro Filipe Soares explained that this meeting did not serve to “continue the dialogue” that the party has had in recent weeks on the State Budgets. For that we will have other meetings throughout this week ”, he said.
“We believe that this State Budget, responding to a difficult situation in the country, be it pandemic, economic or social, having to be able to address the country’s structural problems, some that existed even before this crisis”, Defended the member of BE.
For Catarina Martins’ party, the pandemic demonstrated the seriousness of several problems affecting the country, starting with the world of work, in which the fragility of labor relations served as a “prelude to the world of dismissal.”
“Social support did not reach everyone, leaving many people behind”, something that this crisis also demonstrated, and public services needed investment, especially the National Health Service, the BE considered.
There is still, for the party, “A financial system that never tires of depleting the country’s resources, and once again this situation is manifesting itself”.
Pedro Filipe Soares explained that this situation reveals the need to change the response given to each of the problems. These are the priorities that the country has and sees as emergencies and those that the Bloco de Esquerda puts on the table so that we can get to a good point ”., he stated.
Upon leaving the meeting with the Executive, the PCP said that he took the opportunity to insist on the objectives that the State Budget must meet for 2021, among which the “defense of workers’ rights, wages and job creation”, but also issues related to “social protection, public services and public investment”.
However, according to deputy João Oliveira, this meeting did not serve to deepen these issues, which must continue to be discussed “in another framework” to “respond to the economic and social problems of the country.” Topics that should “guide the options” of OE2021.
“Only when the bill is presented will we be in a position to verify whether or not the measures for which we have fought were registered,” so that the vote of the PCP goes in the direction of what is inscribed in that proposal. “Any appreciation is possible”added the deputy.
CDS-PP recalled, at the end of the meeting, that “The government chose to negotiate this budget with the parties on its left”Therefore, “what results from the presentation of the general guidelines is what we already knew: that there is a Budget that gives much less importance to the private initiative than to the public function, to public investment.”
Deputy Cecília Meireles considered that “who is forgotten in this Budget is precisely private investment and companies, and their workers who are struggling to survive in an economy that is still very uncertain”, a concern that the CDS transmitted to the Government today.
The party has not yet wanted to reveal the vote, as it will first have to “read the document.” “But of course the CDS represents an alternative to this Government and this Budget, which is negotiated and prepared from the left,” said Meireles.
“I don’t foresee any good surprises on the budget side. I think the budget will be well below what we think was expected “he added.
(in update)
