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A week before the first D-day of the Budget, António Costa eases the threat of political crisis, but hardens the rhetoric of the left on the State Budget for 2021. On the eve of a new round of negotiations on the left, the Prime Minister wants go to message that you do not want to “control the mouthwash”, but that it will not appear if it fails: “I do not turn my back on the country at this time of crisis and I will do everything possible to save it from any kind of crisis. “he said in an interview with TVI. On the other hand, you are telling BE and PCP that you don’t understand how they can have “global opposition” to the document and that they don’t need to approve it, they just don’t fail.
This subtle shift in appeals to the left is important in deciding whether or not to vote on the document. António Costa stopped asking them to approve – despite repeating that he does not understand why they do not do it – and insists on a message that he had already rehearsed during the weekend: “The approval bill is very simple, only the PS it has 22 deputies more than good all together. The Budget will only fail if the PCP and BE add their votes to the right. If the PCP and BE add the votes of the right, if they do not add up, the Budget will not fail. ” And repeat: “The fundamental question from the political point of view is to know: do you want to add to the right or do you not want to add to the right and fail the budget?”he asks.
The question is not innocent. Without saying it clearly, implicit in the Prime Minister’s question is an episode from the left’s poorly resolved past: the role of the famous PEC4 of the José Sócrates government in 2011, which caused the fall of the socialist government and the victory of the PSD. But there was also a drop in BE, which saw its bank shrink significantly.
It is on this board of an unwanted political crisis, which would not bring winners to the left, where António Costa plays. And in this interview with TVI he insisted on the idea that the pandemic does not stop and that this budget is needed to respond to it, not wanting to govern in twelfths: “It is essential not to govern with your mouth,” he said. For this not to happen, it is necessary that the Budget be approved and this can happen without the vote of the BE. Asked several times whether he admitted that the document would pass without the blockers, Costa always avoided the individualization of Catarina Martins’ party, saying that he “wants” to have the vote of all the left parties and also the PAN. “If others want, I don’t ask them to vote against it either,” he joked, but insisted that “the meaning of the negotiations is with who our partners have been.”
Last week, António Costa had used the formula of saying that he “did not understand” how the left could not make this budget viable, in an interview with Público. Now, in TVI, he reinforces this idea: “It is difficult for me to understand how there is a global opposition from the left to this Budget. I would not understand it, the country would not understand it,” he insists. And it guarantees that it is not asking for “a blank check” since the Budget proposal “already reflects some of the fruits of the dialogue” with the different parties.
However, interviewers recalled, the left insists that it is insufficient. “Besides the political rhetoric, I don’t see where there could be differences,” he said. Therefore, he guaranteed that “he will make this effort to the limit of reason.” A difficult limit to calculate, but which is reflected in the balance between income and expenses that does not make the Budget “unenforceable” or “unbearable for the future”.
The conversations with these parties took place mainly with the EO on the table, although the government initially said it wanted to associate it with a compromise with the legislature. Costa reveals that it was an unsuccessful attempt and that he failed to negotiate with these parties the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), the plan to use the funds from Brussels. “Neither party showed willingness to negotiate the recovery program. Nobody wanted to negotiate with us “, He said. There is still scope to do so, but “limited”, since the PRR has already been delivered in Brussels.
