Pedro Nuno Santos: Government “is not trustworthy and, every time it was tested, it failed”
The secretary general of the PS defended today that, in six months of governance, the executive demonstrated that it is incompetent and “not trustworthy”, considering that, “at every moment in which it was tested, it failed”.
“Six months have passed, enough for us to realize that we have a Government that sells illusions, that presents PowerPoints, very far from the difficulty of doing, implementing, governing”, declared Pedro Nuno Santos in a speech at the Federative Congress of the Urban Area of Lisbon (FAUL), which took place today at the Estoril Congress Center.
The socialist leader defended that “it is in concrete governance that the competence of a Government is measured”, adding: “every time they were tested, they failed”.
“Six months is not enough. Enough for us to know that we have a Government without competence and a Government that cannot be trusted”, he defended, highlighting that it was six months in which many could “continue to give the benefit of the doubt”, but reiterating that they were enough to realize that the Government “has no competence”.
Pedro Nuno Santos exemplified several areas in which he considered that the Government demonstrated incompetence, starting with the announcement by the Prime Minister, in April, that he was going to make a cut in the IRS of 1,500 million euros”.
“It wasn’t long before we all knew that, out of the 1,500 million euros that had been announced to the country, 1,300 million had already been decided and entered into the State Budget by the PS Government,” he said.
The PS leader then addressed the housing sector to emphasize that the Government “promised to reduce housing prices through exemption from IMT” and that the PS, at the time of announcing this measure, had immediately warned that the measure “was wrong, it cost money” and would create an increase in housing prices.
“So what happened? Much faster than we thought, prices shot up again and completely swallowed the IMT exemption, which the municipalities will not receive, but, even if they are compensated by the State Budget, the State Budget loses and there is no young person who has gained from this measure”, he criticized, adding that “the Government is bad in the solutions it has to solve the country’s problems”.
Afterwards, Pedro Nuno Santos addressed the extraordinary supplement for pensions, highlighting that the Government announced it allowing “the idea to take hold that the announcement they had made at the Pontal party was an increase in pensions”.
“We quickly began to realize that it was not an increase in pensions, it was an extraordinary additional for a month without repetition. And many retirees still don’t realize it, and when they get to November, they will realize that their pension is exactly the same as their September pension. This government is not trustworthy,” he said.
The PS general secretary also addressed the emergency plans for health and education announced by the executive, highlighting that, in obstetric emergencies, there were “40% more services closed” this year than in the previous year and, in schools, there are “more students without teachers”.
“Incompetent”, he criticized.
In this speech, Pedro Nuno Santos once again criticized the State Budget presented by the Government, reiterating that “it is not from the PS”, it is “bad because of what it has, but above all because of what it doesn’t have”, and also returned to address the controversial meetings between the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, and the leaders of Chega and the Liberal Initiative, André Ventura and Rui Rocha.
The secretary general of the PS defended that “the Portuguese right is a mess” and “does not understand”, considering that they have shown “a shameful spectacle”, and criticized Rui Rocha, ironizing that “he appears to know what happened” in the meetings in São Bento.
“He tried to explain what was not talked about in the meetings and how many meetings there were not. The Liberal Initiative is no longer a party. It has been transformed into a praetorian guard for the Government and the Prime Minister”, he criticized.
