During the closing of the general debate on the State Budget for 2026 (OE2026), Eurico Brilhante Dias, the parliamentary leader of the PS, argued that no changes are expected from the Government led by Luís Montenegro due to its “ideological bias and the support of national corporatism” from Chega.
“However, there will be no alibis or excuses. The path chosen is wrong, unsustainable, and this budget already clearly shows how it has been exhausted, but it will not be the PS that gives this Government an excuse for its failure with this budget,” he stated, explaining the party’s abstention that will enable the document’s approval.
According to Brilhante Dias, this budget “reflects the imbalance, albeit democratic, that resulted from the May 2025 elections.”
“It needs a firm, moderate, and responsible opposition, which only the PS, as was well expressed in the last municipal elections, can embody,” he emphasized.
For the PS parliamentary leader, this marks the “end of the electioneering party” that he accuses Luís Montenegro of carrying out in the last two legislative elections.
Eurico Brilhante Dias highlighted a “budget process in limbo, lacking rigor and transparency,” citing reports from UTAO and the Public Finance Council, which he said “leave no room for different interpretations.”
“Under-budgeting of expenses and extraordinary revenues that are difficult to achieve, a scenario that exposes us to the first external shock in a budget that promotes the deterioration of the public administrations balance while relying on a dynamic job market, functioning within an equitable and moderate labor legislation framework, approved during the last PS Government, known as the ‘Agenda for Decent Work’, which, incidentally, the Government is preparing to dismantle,” he criticized.
The PS leader also stated that the reduction in IRS is paid for by the younger generation “in a confluence between AD and Chega.”
“One might say: more money for Deputy André Ventura, in collusion with his former party, through IRS, less for a young graduate starting his professional life. It is fair to say, in language Chega knows well: it is a shame, it is indeed immoral,” he condemned.
