Pedro Nuno Santos initiated his day at the Benfica Market, accompanied by the head of the list for Lisbon, Mariana Vieira da Silva, and the Socialist Party’s candidate for the Lisbon City Hall. He presented to traders and shoppers the party’s electoral program proposal for a permanent zero VAT rate on a basket of food items, a measure previously enacted temporarily by António Costa’s government to combat inflation.
“Some had expressed doubts, but the implementation of zero VAT proved successful, with an effective reduction in prices, and that’s exactly what will happen this time, now permanently instead of temporarily,” he stated.
According to the PS leader, when the zero VAT on the food basket was discontinued, “prices rose again.”
“It is crucial that we, with the State’s available budgetary margin, do all we can to reduce the cost of living for our families,” he asserted.
Pedro Nuno Santos emphasized that this measure highlights “PS priorities—people, families, workers, pensioners,” in contrast to the PSD’s priorities, which he claims focus on “the minority of companies in Portugal that pay most of the corporate tax.”
If elected to govern, the socialist secretary-general plans to establish a body to monitor the promised VAT reduction and ensure that “the zero VAT reflects in families’ budgets.”
When questioned whether his visit to the Benfica Market was a response to the Government’s visit last week to the Bolhão Market in Porto, Pedro Nuno Santos sought to underscore the differences between the two events.
“The difference with the Bolhão market is that the Government was in power, convening a Cabinet meeting, funded by public money, performing what should have been governmental work and was turned into a campaign activity,” he criticized.
In the aftermath of the previous evening’s debate with BE coordinator Mariana Mortágua, marking his debut in televised face-offs amid the pre-campaign for the May legislative elections, the PS leader was asked if he dismisses a new post-electoral understanding.
“We are not considering scenarios, nor will we anticipate any such scenarios. We will only focus on the victory scenario, which is the sole scenario we are interested in working on, and that’s what we will be concentrating on over the coming weeks,” he reiterated.
Pedro Nuno Santos recalled that in last year’s elections, “the President of the Republic asked the most voted party to form the government, as had been the case in 2015.”
“This time, the same will happen, meaning the Socialist Party must win the elections, and that is our single focus,” he repeated.
