Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho has been accused of “incompetence” in the implementation of the State Budget by the leader of the main opposition party.
António José Seguro from the PS said Coelho’s Budget never existed in reality, and stressed that the government has announced an amended budget and “its deficit will be predictably higher than its predecessor”.
“The tax revenue will also decrease by around €1.6 billion of what the government had predicted for this year. The reduction is a result of the fact that the economy is diminishing and that the government is insisting on an austerity-based policy,” he said.
Seguro touched on the subject of the presentation of the new budget to the Parliament, in which Passos Coelho said he could not guarantee that a second amended budget would not have to be created.
“What kind of a government is this? What kind of competence, and especially, what kind of trust can we inspire in entrepreneurs, investors and in the Portuguese workers,” he questioned.
The head of PS said that there is an alternative to the path the government has taken, which has resulted in one million unemployed people in Portugal and 40% of unemployed youth.
“The government insists on trying to balance the public accounts by resorting to austerity. We believe that it is possible, desirable, necessary and humane to balance the public accounts but through the path of growth and employment,” Seguro stated.
