A document prepared for the 50th-anniversary conference of the CCP, held today in Lisbon, advocates for an initiative from the executive under Luís Montenegro. The confederation, led by João Vieira Lopes, suggests that this should be undertaken by a “plural team of independent researchers,” engaging parliamentary parties and social partners.
The aim is to conduct a “rigorous diagnosis” of the country’s situation and establish a vision “for the decade,” which goes beyond creating general directives or compiling ongoing measures. It should identify necessary changes and set achievable targets, according to the CCP.
Recognizing that Portugal’s future is “largely” tied to Europe’s future and that the European Union needs a “new agenda” for integration and competitiveness, the confederation representing commerce and services companies believes that the country should have “its own strategic orientation” aligning with “European policy directions and priorities.”
This document should include a “scheduled program of concrete actions” to make Portugal “a more competitive country,” addressing the “real needs of the Portuguese.” It should tackle existing “systemic and organizational failures,” with the understanding that merely throwing money at problems is not a solution, the confederation asserts.
“Unlike documents such as the National Reform Program (PNR) and the ‘Strategic Vision for the Economic Recovery Plan 2020-2030’ led by António Costa and Silva, compiled according to European fund usage criteria, we emphasize the importance of something akin to a national ‘Draghi Report’ for the newly starting legislature,” the CCP document states.
Referring to the Draghi document, the confederation alludes to the report published in September 2024 by the former ECB president and former Italian prime minister on the future of European competitiveness, requested by the European Commission. It outlined four pillars to ensure “inclusive economic growth” in the EU, based on “sustainable competitiveness,” “economic security,” “open strategic autonomy,” and “fair competition.”
For the CCP, the “Draghi report” candidly exposed Europe’s reality of losing ground to the two largest global economies (the USA and China) and highlighted the need for profound changes in European policy. Portugal should “participate in the debate on European policies” through a strategic plan.
“We believe that recent years in national life have been marked by a deferment of essential cyclical change. Politics has largely been confined to managing cyclical fluctuations, leading successive governments to adopt a continuity line, merely adjusted by European fund programming and their set objectives,” it states.
