“But let’s wait and see,” added Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa while speaking to journalists at the end of a joint visit with the President of Slovakia to the Champalimaud Foundation in Lisbon, as the budget debate was closing.
The head of state mentioned that he spent the early hours “reading the latest amendment proposals that were voted on” and estimated that the bill, approved today in a final global vote with affirmative votes from PSD and CDS-PP and abstention from PS, will reach him for promulgation in “eight to ten days.”
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa noted that the voting had been known “for a long time,” highlighting the “difficult international context” and acknowledging that “there are some cushions, some cushions do exist.”
“Therefore, I think that, considering what has happened, unless there are very big surprises, the Budget will not pose problems for promulgation and will not create execution issues,” he stated.
However, the President of the Republic cautioned that “the world changes in such a way that no one can guarantee that what is today, or what is in a month or two, will be the same in a year.”
“But, initially, and I see no reason not to look at the Budget with the confidence that it can accommodate what was voted by the Assembly of the Republic, I believe so. But let’s wait and see,” he concluded.
The State Budget proposal for 2026 was approved today in parliament in a final global vote with the backing of the two parties supporting the Government, PSD and CDS-PP, and with PS abstaining. Chega, IL, Livre, PCP, BE, PAN, and JPP voted against it.
After the debate, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro stated that, overall, the PSD/CDS-PP Government’s Budget “does not come out mischaracterized” from the Assembly of the Republic but accused PS and Chega of “invading the decision-making sphere belonging to the executive branch.”
According to Luís Montenegro, the measures approved in parliament against the wishes of PSD and CDS-PP will have an impact of around 100 million euros.
