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Prime Minister António Costa warned today that the next State Budget “will only fail if BE and PCP add their votes to the right” and said that it is difficult for him to understand how the left does not support this document.
During a digital meeting promoted by the PS, in which he participated as socialist general secretary, António Costa assumed that he was not calm, since there is “a degree of uncertainty” in relation to the State Budgets for 2021 (OE2021) that “does not it is healthy for the country ”, but he assured that he is“ with a clear conscience ”with what the Government has been doing on this issue.
“This budget will only fail if BE and PCP add their votes to the right,” he warned.
António Costa said that he spends his time “listening to the parties of the PS left saying that the PS is joining the right.”
“Let’s see, they just don’t join the right wing and the budget is approved,” he challenged.
The Prime Minister also reinforced the idea that the draft budget of the Government presented to the Assembly of the Republic “already reflects a large part of the work done in the negotiation” with BE, PCP, PEV and PAN.
“That these parties still want some improvements, it is normal for them to do so and the negotiation will certainly continue until the final global vote. Now, in all honesty, I must say that I do not understand how a left party generally rejects this.” budget, “he condemned.
Stayway Covid
One of the initial topics covered in the conversation had to do with the Stayway Covid app. The issue gave much to talk about in Portugal, with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Commission defending even in guidelines that its use should not be mandatory, as the Portuguese Government claims.
António Costa was asked about criticism of the Government’s draft law that requires the use of a mask on the street and the use of the StayAway Covid mobile phone application in the workplace or similar, school and academic, under penalty of a fine up to 500 euros.
“There is one thing that is certain: since the announcement we made in the Council of Ministers, or if you want the appeal that was made in the Council of Ministers, until now there has already been a very significant growth in the number of downloads of the application. I think there was a Misunderstanding and certainly a bad explanation ”, the Prime Minister began by saying.
“This idea that the police will be doing STOP operations asking to open the suitcase to see his cell phone, which obviously will not exist, makes no sense and is not even covered,” he said. However, for the executive leader, the use of the mask is more restrictive than imposing the use of the Stayway Covid application.
“I even consider that the mandatory use of the mask – which seems to have been more consensual – is more restrictive of freedoms than actually having an application that I have been using since September 1 and that I never felt in the least annoying or limited. the mask, to be honest, I feel limited. I think there is a great lack of knowledge about the application and that explains a large part of the reaction, ”confirmed António Costa.
However, he insisted that the purpose of the proposal is to avoid further confinement as much as possible. “Forcing him to stay home is much more restrictive than obviously having the mask or the application,” he added.
“I think there was a misunderstanding and certainly a bad explanation,” he said, making it clear that from the point of view of the protection of rights, freedoms and guarantees “there is no traceability of movements and anonymity is fully preserved.”
For the socialist leader, “there is a huge gain” that was obtained from the fact that “people were once again alert to the need to control their behaviors and through their behaviors to control the spread of the pandemic.”
The prime minister justified this draft law with the need to “give a clear indication” that it was not possible “to continue letting go and that people had to change their behavior.”
“One of the reasons I had doubts about the timeliness of a state of emergency [quando foi acionado] it is because I had the perception that perhaps the state of emergency would be more useful later, because at that time people voluntarily stayed at home, “he admitted.
* With agencies
