At the closing speech of the PS Parliamentary Days in Penafiel, Porto district, José Luís Carneiro accused the government of a “systematic failure” in forecasting the Social Security balance, a “hidden agenda with a clear flaw” in the State Budget, estimated at one billion euros.
“If we make the effort, with goodwill, to believe the government’s accounts, then it can be said that at the very least, there is a ‘hidden agenda with a clear flaw.’ It’s quite significant, around one billion euros,” he stated, pointing out that this is due to “the systematic failure with which the Government predicts the Social Security balance from the previous year.”
The PS leader thus outlined one of the proposed amendments for specialization to be implemented “if the approved balance shown for this year’s Social Security is higher than that in the State Budget” for 2026.
The proposal will entail applying “that difference, up to the limit of 400 million euros,” to the “structural increase of the lowest pensions, making the extraordinary supplement granted this year permanent,” he announced.
José Luís Carneiro indicated that by August this year, the State Budget for 2025 had already shown “a Social Security balance exceeding by 1,069 million euros the amount executed in 2024.”
“Yet, in the State Budget presented for 2026, the government only projects an increase of 99 million euros in public accounting, which is about one billion euros less than was executed by August,” he noted.
Another proposal from the PS for the budgetary specialization process, according to its leader, concerns the fiscal revenue from the petroleum product tax (ISP). It suggests that if this revenue “exceeds the 4.6% increase expected for 2026,” it should be used to reduce VAT on basic food items.
Carneiro also introduced a third measure for the OE2026 related to active tax debts, “those not in court,” which in 2024 “increased by 14% to about eight billion euros, or 980 million euros more left uncollected than in 2023.”
“The debt write-offs increased in 2024 to 264 million euros, meaning that if the government works towards fiscal efficiency, there is the revenue to, among other political priorities, increase the support by 50% that is paid, for instance, to former combatants, respond to the financing law of the humanitarian associations of firefighters, and also adopt a withholding rate for the additional income of firefighters serving in civil protection, among other priorities that we will address during specialization,” he listed.
The PS leader also lamented that in the OE2026 proposal, there are “no forecasts of revenue or expenditure that can be employed” in the ambitious housing plan presented by the government, which he described as “incomprehensible and indicative of the lack of credibility of the action plans” of Montenegro’s executive.
“However, at the same time, it seems to us there is an exaggeration of revenue in relation to the public accounts forecast. Specifically, there is, in our view, an overestimation of the revenue expected from the sale of assets,” he added.
The PS will abstain from voting on the OE2026, a decision the socialist leader has justified by the need for political stability despite it being “a poor budget.”
