“A Tarifa Social da Água pode ser extended, along with electricity consumption. There should be a basic provision allowing access to electricity for everyone, so that no one lives without light or risks freezing during winter,” advocated Mariana Mortágua. She was addressing journalists during a campaign event ahead of the upcoming legislative elections on the 18th, in a neighborhood where many residents lack access to water or electricity.
In its electoral program, the party proposes several measures, including lowering the VAT on electricity to 6%, aligning eligibility criteria for the social gas tariff with the electricity tariff, and providing a daily free supply of 5 KWh to those eligible for the social tariff during the winter months. The estimated budgetary cost for this initiative is 30 million euros.
“How many elderly people count the minutes they use the heater at home because they cannot afford the electricity bill at the end of the month?” Mortágua questioned.
However, Mortágua emphasized that this is only a “palliative measure,” arguing that the main solution lies in a general increase in wages.
“It is by raising wages today that we can ensure better pensions tomorrow. By increasing pensions, we can guarantee a dignified life for everyone who has worked for many years. That’s why this campaign is about wages, about those earning a thousand euros, which represents most of the Portuguese population. It’s about people who work yet remain impoverished, about housing prices, about shift workers, about the real country that keeps the economy moving forward,” she highlighted.
On a day dedicated to the north of the country, Mortágua was joined on this visit by the top candidate for the district, MP Marisa Matias, and the second candidate, Adriano Campos, as well as José Soeiro, who recently left parliament after more than a decade as a deputy to take up a teaching position in the Sociology Department at the Faculty of Letters in Porto.
Later in the day, BE will hold a session with the lead candidate for the Braga district and party founder, Francisco Louçã, focusing on taxing large fortunes. Mariana Mortágua asserted that this campaign plan is intentional.
“We believe there is a connection. In a country where so many are poor and work to earn little over a thousand euros, many accumulate millionaire fortunes because housing prices rise, electricity prices rise, supermarket goods prices rise, and we want to talk about this country of inequalities and demonstrate that raising wages, raising pensions, respecting shift work is also about asking a small contribution from those who have more to invest in the common good,” she argued.
When questioned about some unfavorable polls for BE, Mariana Mortágua responded that “there are polls for all tastes.”
“We’ve seen in past elections that polls are not reliable; in fact, they have not provided very accurate signals of electoral outcomes. More than the polls, what matters to us is the message we want to convey in this campaign,” she emphasized.
The leader of BE assured that the party’s elected MPs will advocate for salary increases, shift workers’ rights, or measures to lower housing costs, such as rent caps.
“Because parliament already has many people who strive hard to advocate for those who have more,” she concluded.
In the last legislative elections, held in March last year, BE elected five MPs, including two from the Porto district (Marisa Matias and José Soeiro).
