The Communist leader Jerónimo de Sousa said in Faro today that the proposed 2014 state budget gave Cavaco Silva one simple choice.
"The budget is now in front of the President who, with his responsibilities and commitment to the defence of the Constitution, has one solution which is to use his veto and return the proposals to parliament in order to comply with Portugal’s Basic Laws in the true interests of the Portuguese," said Jerónimo de Sousa.
The general secretary of the PCP considered that any veto would "also be in response to the cries of protest and indignation of workers who clearly reject this budget and demand to be treated fairly now and in the future."
"They forget that the Algarve continues to experience an increasing precariousness in labour relations and has a particular job situation due to seasonality," said Jerónimo de Sousa referring to the Government whose leaders he criticises for continuing the myth that the economy is "growing, but they continue to destroy the lives of most people because their choice is growth without development, without creating jobs with rights, but with low wages and poverty."
The Communist General Secretary also highlighted the savage cuts planned for the sectors of education and health, predicting that the situation will worsen.
Alongside Jerónimo de Sousa in the Algarve today was the parliamentary leader of the Communist Party João Oliveira who said the agreement signed with the Troika only helps solve the problems of "speculators and banks."
"Two and a half years after the pact with the Troika was signed it now is undeniable that the only problems that were solved were the problems of speculators and banks that have continued to accumulate profits during a crisis which was itself caused by speculation," said Oliveira in his opening speech in Faro.
The Communist MP criticised the political extortion that lies behind the Troika deal and which wants to "make permanent what was to be temporary, jeopardising the future of new generations and making living conditions and work practices worse than in our grandfathers’ day, enforcing exploitation and instilling the fear that our parents rebelled against."
"That is what, in essence, the 2014 state budget stands for - a project that perpetuates social inequality and the mutilation of our democracy that was built as from April 25th," he continued, illustrating 'shocking examples' of "cuts in public investment and the privatisation of the Post Office and the Shipyards of Viana do Castelo."
Oliveira drew an interesting parallel between the country and the Algarve which "after the summer is a like portrait of what remains of the country after the interests behind the Troika have been satisfied - a region plundered of its wealth, now marked by economic imbalance, social inequality and the exodus of much of its population."
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I am sure he did, so I altered it.
Ed