“We are witnessing a country being looted by the gang of PSD, CDS-PP, Chega, and IL, this authentic gang of theft of rights, the vanguard of right-wing politics that is earnestly committed to delivering that fatal blow they call the labor package,” stated the communist leader.
At a rally in Aljustrel, Beja district, where the CDU regained the majority in the municipal council after 16 years in the October 12 elections, the Secretary-General of the PCP delivered strong criticisms of the labor proposals outlined by the government within the framework of the 2026 State Budget (OE2026), approved in general on Tuesday.
Paulo Raimundo emphasized, “what is at stake is a brutal acceleration of exploitation and the creation of an even more unjust society.”
“What PSD, CDS, IL, and Chega want are new generations on the tightrope, precarious workers with precarious lives, no time to live and no time for their children,” he stressed.
For the communist leader, “the country is not advancing, and the life of the majority is difficult,” yet a budget that is “all wrapped up in propaganda, but is a piece serving the politics of those who think they own everything,” was approved.
“It is a budget that fills the measures of Chega and IL, which, taking advantage of the PS abstention, allowed themselves the luxury of voting against a budget with which they not only agree but are ‘buried up to the neck’ in the commitments they have with this policy,” he indicated.
In his speech, Paulo Raimundo further emphasized that the country’s problem “is not a lack of money,” but rather “where that money is used and where it is diverted,” criticizing that, within the scope of OE2026, “around 12 billion euros in various items are ‘handed over’ directly to large economic groups.”
Regarding the National Health Service (SNS), the PCP Secretary-General also considered it “urgent to end the rhetoric and the fallacy of the money” spent in the sector.
“Everyone cries because it’s 17 billion euros, and indeed, it is a lot of money. But no tears are shed for half of that money being handed over to groups that make a business out of illness,” he said.
In his intervention, the communist leader also strongly criticized Chega and the party’s “silence” regarding the recent searches conducted by the Judicial Police at Novo Banco and the sale transaction of this institution to BPCE.
“What is extraordinary and revealing is that Chega, always full of corruption talk, gives not a single signal of life about this matter, this profound wave of corruption. This is what is truly scandalous,” argued Paulo Raimundo.
For the PCP Secretary-General, “it almost seems like [Chega] put on a burka to maintain silence.”
