In a speech at the Volunteer Firefighters Hall in Barreiro, Setúbal district, Paulo Raimundo criticized government policies, specifically the decision to unfreeze tuition fees in higher education starting from the 2026/2027 academic year.
Addressing the students among the hundreds filling the hall, the PCP secretary-general emphasized that raising tuition fees is already “very serious,” compounded by the rising cost of housing, transportation, and other expenses faced by higher education students.
“When tuition fees increase, it signifies a brutal rise in the cost of living for students. And here’s the youth, these students, who will resist — truly resist. We’ve seen governments fall for less, comrades,” he highlighted.
Raimundo also criticized the housing measures announced by the government on Thursday, highlighting that if the government views a 2,300 euro rent as moderate, then the PCP will start demanding 5,000 euros for a “moderate salary.”
He then addressed the increase in the Solidarity Supplement for the Elderly (CSI) and the potential extraordinary pension supplement announced by the Prime Minister on Saturday, accusing the government of offering “a little handout” to those with miserable pensions, and only if there’s budget leeway.
“Here’s the message: if the PSD/CDS government hadn’t aligned with Chega and IL, and hadn’t removed two billion euros annually from State coffers by lowering corporate tax for big economic groups, there would be more than enough room to increase pensions,” he asserted.
Following these criticisms, Raimundo discussed health issues, on a day when another baby was born in an ambulance en route to Almada Hospital because the maternity emergency at Barreiro Hospital was closed.
The PCP secretary-general stated there is “no romance in being born in an ambulance,” or “at the front door of a house or hospital,” stressing it’s “an immense health danger for the mother and the baby.”
“We cannot look at this happening every day as normality,” he stressed before making “a serious joke.”
“The President of the Republic should decorate the Moita firefighters because they’re up to 14 children born in those ambulances,” he ironized, adding that “health is not a business” and if doctors are lacking at Barreiro Hospital, “then hire the necessary doctors.”
The issue of emergency closures was also addressed by the CDU candidate for the Barreiro City Council, Jéssica Pereira, advocating that the current PS-held municipality should be able to assert it’s “possible to have a hospital open full-time.”
“We often say this is a result of right-wing policies—these closures and stripping of services. Well, what the PS has been doing isn’t just being complicit with right-wing policy. In Barreiro, the PS has been the executioner of our public hospital,” she accused.
Also, the CDU candidate for the presidency of the Barreiro Municipal Assembly, José Luís Ferreira, former parliamentary leader of the Ecologist Party “Os Verdes” (PEV) in the Assembly of the Republic, argued that, on October 12, “the future of Barreiro” will be at stake.
“These are choices about whether we want to continue having management without a city or council vision, without strategic lines or development, literally selling Barreiro piece by piece,” he stated.
