“We will vote in favor of the PCP’s motion of rejection. We understand that this program is deeply ideological in the choices it makes, in its approach to the far-right on essential matters for freedoms, equality, democracy, and also in the systematic destruction it does of public services and work,” stated Mariana Mortágua.
Speaking to journalists in parliament after the leaders’ conference, the deputy accused the Government of “right-wing radicalization.”
The bloc’s coordinator questioned “what will be the consequences for Social Security of the labor measures proposed by the Government that weaken contributions to Social Security and the future of Social Security,” suggesting there may be “a willingness to privatize it later.”
Mariana Mortágua also argued that housing is “a huge omission” in the document and maintained that the Government’s program “does not solve the lives of those who cannot have a home,” warning that this is the “greatest national social emergency,” besides “a factor of impoverishment of the middle class.”
“The Government has no proposal to lower housing prices, does not respond to the European Commission’s call to control rents, to manage local accommodation and reduce it, and to do something about empty houses,” she criticized.
The sole deputy argued that the Government “will deregulate more and allow more local accommodation and tourism, will sell state property that could be used for housing; it will be allocated to more luxury housing, more hotels, more private condominiums, and is even considering changing the rental law to undermine old rents and create more instability and more fragility among people who are renting homes, who cannot afford their rent, and who live with a guillotine over their heads.”
The bloc’s representative also noted that the measures included in the Government’s program are “symbolic in nature, most often without a concrete translation.”
The rejection motion announced by the PCP is sure to fail, as besides PSD and CDS, it also lacks support from Chega and PS.
