Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel said on Friday that the “social measures announced by the Prime Minister [at the Pontal festival] should stimulate the PS [Socialist Party],” assuring that “there are conditions to approve the State Budget.”
On the sidelines of a visit to the Social and Parish Center of Nossa Senhora da Boavista in Porto, the minister, who is substituting for Luís Montenegro during the Prime Minister’s vacation, said he does not understand “how there are so many people, even among the opposition parties, who are uncomfortable” with the extraordinary one-time supplement for lower pensions, as the measure “shows budgetary responsibility.”
“The measures announced by the Prime Minister should not bother the PS, they should stimulate the PS,” he added, rejecting accusations of “electoral campaigning.”
“As far as I know, there are no prospects for elections, there will only be elections if the PS Secretary-General wants them. The Portuguese people at home know that the government is reformist, with social sensitivity […]. The Government is always working for stability,” Paulo Rangel assured.
