José Sena Goulão/ LUSA
Luís Montenegro after debate in Parliament
Biweekly debate in Parliament still marked by January storms, the new general strike and dialogue between Montenegro and Carneiro.
The Prime Minister announced that the Council of Ministers will approve on Thursday a moratorium temporary credits to companies by another 12 monthsas part of responding to the consequences of storms.
Luís Montenegro spoke at the opening of the fortnightly debate in the Assembly of the Republic.
“We presented yesterday (Tuesday) the final version of the PTRR, a plan to make Portugal safer, more robust and more prepared in the face of the growing threat of extreme natural phenomena or other critical disruptions, be they storms, fires, earthquakes or blackouts”, he declared.
“Tomorrow, the Council of Ministers will approve a temporary moratorium on credits to companies for another 12 months”, added the prime minister.
Luís Montenegro highlighted the investment “in collective security, in people’s lives, in the continued operation of companies”.
“In short, in the face of destruction, we are not limited to restoring, but we are rebuilding better and making Portugal safer, more robust and more prepared”, he highlighted.
The Prime Minister highlighted that funds from the Transformation, Recovery and Resilience Plan (PTRR) They are mostly public and European, representing more than 15 billion in 22 billion euros.
Regarding support for families affected by bad weather, Montenegro admitted slow processes and gave a reason: “Lack of human resourcesparticularly in municipal councils”.
Pensions: “It’s early”
Luís Montenegro considered it to be early for one permanent increase in the lowest pensionsadmitting new extraordinary additional payments if public finances allow.
“The payment of extraordinary supplements was the decision that we took in 2024, that we took in 2025 and that is included in the State Budget that we will take in 2026 if in the middle of the year we have public finances that allow us to make such a decision. This is my commitment. Please, don’t keep it”, said the prime minister to José Luís Carneiro.
In the fortnightly debate, the PS secretary general had appealed to the “prime minister’s sensitivity” regarding people who receive minimum pensions and who are especially affected by the increase in the cost of living, asking if Luís Montenegro is available to fulfill “the word given” of an extraordinary supplement, but insisting on a “lasting increase that improves the lowest pensions”.
The Prime Minister noted that the PS’s commitment “was different” and involved “taking advantage of a Social Security balance from this year to commit to the payment of pensions for 20, 30, 40 or 50 years on a permanent basis”.
“We also want to get there, but it’s early. Let’s first put the country on the right track, growing more robustly and gaining, from an economic point of view, the fire to be able to make a decision of this caliber”, he said.
New general strike
The Prime Minister considered that the impact of the last general strike even “relegitimized the desire for the country to be more productive”, saying that the Government “will wait calmly” for the position of the unions regarding a possible new strike.
The theme of a possible new general strike was introduced in the final phase of the fortnightly debate by the PSD parliamentary leader, Hugo Soares, who said he did not understand the reasons for this strike, also pointing out that it could be called for “the eve of a holiday in the middle of the week”.
In response, Luís Montenegro said that he will “wait calmly” for this decision. However, he argued that, often, the results that those calling for the strike want and the “globality of society” reading of its impact are different.
“The results of the strikes, particularly the last general strike, were far, very far, exceeded from a speculative point of view by the parties that supported it,” he said.
Montenegro recalled those who, in parliament, said that the Government lost legitimacy to change labor laws on the street because of this general strike carried out on December 11, to defend the opposite.
“It is fair to say that, if that were the case, what we had seen was the relegitimation this desire to be one most productive countryto be a more competitive country”, he said.
“Arrived” sheep
In between, a highly tense dialogue with the general secretary of the PS. José Luís Carneiro challenged the prime minister to temporarily adopt the IVA zero for the food basket of essential goods, with Luís Montenegro accusing José Luís Carneiro of wanting to “be the closest of socialist deputies”.
The PS leader insisted on the measures he considers urgent to adopt to respond to the difficulties that the Portuguese are facing due to the increase in the cost of living, noting that since the beginning of the year the Portuguese have been paying 19 euros more for the food basket, in addition to increases in taxes.
“Mr Prime Minister, is it available or not so that, even temporarily, we can adopt zero VAT on the basket of goods essential to the lives of families because what we are talking about, Mr Prime Minister, is around 45 euros more in the cost of food”, challenged the socialist.
In response, Luís Montenegro repeated what he had said to the president of Chega, André Ventura, about the response to the rising cost of living when he accused him of being the “most socialist of the arriving deputies“.
“And the deputy wants to be the closest of the socialist deputies“, he shot.
The prime minister made a collage between the PS and Chega proposals for the impacts of the war, saying that both defend zero VAT on the food basket, the reduction of VAT on energy, electricity and gas and taxes on fuel.
“I want to tell you, deputy, as I also told the previous bench, that our vision is a little different. I’m going to be fair and consider that we have the same sensitivity to the difficulties that people and companies feel. We may have different views on how to collaborate so that they can overcome this situation”, he distanced himself.
Specifically about the criticisms regarding fuel taxesMontenegro considered that the PS leader was not serious.
“That doesn’t look good on you, Mr. Deputy. That doesn’t look right on you and you should correct your view”, he condemned.
