Former Labor and Social Security Minister José António Vieira da Silva, who served under various Socialist governments, attended the sectoral session held this morning by the Socialist Party. Speaking to journalists, he anticipated that the party’s election program “will undoubtedly honor its past trajectory” by emphasizing the increase in the national minimum wage, “as well as agreements in Social Dialogue that set new targets for wages.”
The Socialist official expressed “signs of concern” regarding the current government’s actions, accusing it of having “completely devalued” the National Strategy for Combating Poverty.
“Addressing poverty solely through income perspectives is insufficient, and it is necessary for the National Strategy for Combating Poverty to be effectively implemented, not hidden or forgotten in a drawer, and to be at the forefront of the Portuguese Government’s concerns,” he argued.
The former minister issued warnings about risks to the Social Security system, such as demographic challenges and technological modernization.
“But there are also some risks that we can identify in some steps taken by the Government. Steps towards questioning the sustainability of our social protection and security system, possibly – and I say possibly kindly – with the aim of facilitating the entry of the private sector into this important area of our collective life,” he accused.
According to Vieira da Silva, this “is one of the most tempting areas,” and the PSD/CDS-PP Government “opened the door to those who have been advocating a supposed crisis of social security sustainability.”
“And the Government was not able, in a timely and clear manner, to help dispel this doubt (…) Therefore, voices claiming that perhaps it is not as sustainable as they say always contribute to alarm. And alarm is perhaps the greatest enemy of the social protection system,” he lamented.
Vieira da Silva asserted that the Socialist Party’s electoral program should include proposals to enhance social dialogue, “not with superficial measures, but with instruments that better empower the role of unions and business associations.”
