“As we conclude this debate, many perplexities remain. The foremost issue is the Government not updating its macroeconomic scenario, which no one but the Government itself pretends to believe,” stated José Luís Carneiro in the Assembly of the Republic at the closure of the Government Program debate.
According to the PS, it is “incomprehensible that there is no updated macroeconomic framework to support the Government’s program,” added the former Minister of Internal Administration, noting that “budgetary consistency and financial sustainability are essential elements of the country’s credibility.”
José Luís Carneiro accused the previous PSD/CDS-PP administration of “squandering the budget surplus bequeathed by PS governments” and leading to “poor results in the economy and public finances.”
Now, according to the PS Secretary-General candidate, the new Government led by Luís Montenegro “anticipates the policy the right knows best: cuts in rights reductions and disinvestment in the social state.”
“Prime Minister, you cannot count on the PS for that path,” he warned.
In the final part of his speech, José Luís Carneiro received applause from his bench when he declared, “Prime Minister, make no mistake, our role is not that of assistants; it is to oversee and legislate to serve the country. It is you who answer to the parliament, and not the parliament that answers to you.”
The PS leadership candidate urged Luís Montenegro to “instruct his Government to, when attending committees, treat all members of parliament with respect and institutional dignity,” each of whom “constitutes a fraction of popular sovereignty,” arguing that “it was not always the case in the previous legislature.”
“We will not be government advisors; we will scrutinize the Government’s actions with rigor, with straightforwardness, and we will engage in dialogue with transparency and institutional loyalty,” he emphasized, promising “convergence where there is a need to converge, but always placing the country’s interest above any partisan interests.”
In this intervention, José Luís Carneiro outlined some proposals included in his candidacy motion for PS Secretary-General and party positions, which constitute “an alternative vision for Portugal,” described as “a vision for the future, with economic prosperity, social cohesion, and environmental protection.”
The PS aims to build “an economy based on clean technologies and knowledge” with “investment in research support” and “a new land management” with “new public services that serve as engines of territorial, local, and regional development” and that encourage “dual-use industries, both civil and military,” he said.
On the tax front, José Luís Carneiro argued for the need to protect young residents in Portugal “from increasingly unnecessary instruments such as Golden Visas or the non-habitual residents’ tax regime.”
In housing, he pointed out the Government’s lack of ambition and proposed expanding “public affordable housing” and setting a national goal “that in ten years, everyone has access to decent housing.”
In education, he rejected “using loans to pay for university courses.” In health, he opposed policies that might “compromise the public service and its universality.”
Regarding social support, he said it should be “bureaucracy-free, accessible, and without stigma,” emphasizing that “work is paid with wages, not with social benefits.”
On the environmental plan, he insisted on the need for “urgency in climate action, environmental protection, biodiversity, natural resources, and nature regeneration,” asserting that “by 2035 at the latest, Portugal must be able to self-sustain electricity needs through renewable sources.”
