Portugal’s Prime Minister said today that his government wants to reduce the tax burden permanently and argued that this goal depends on political consensus with the opposition and the long-term reduction of expenditure.
On the opening day of the first debate on the proposed State Budget for 2014 the prime minister’s introduction contained warnings that everyone had to agree with him or the whole system would collapse (and it would not be his fault.) On the budget’s increasingly harsh cuts he commented, "We want lower taxes permanently. However, this is only possible if we do not deviate from the path of reducing and controlling expenditure."
The leader of the socialist party (PS) António José Seguro pointed out to the government that "this budget is a plan of cuts to impoverish the country, and to dismantle the welfare state.”
The prime minister accused the PS of refusing to sit with the ruling coalition to negotiate on state reforms but Seguro pointed out that today’s session was to discuss the 2014 budget, not state reforms, "Today is to discuss the state budget. On another day we have time to talk about what the Government wants to do about the reform of the state."
The government's proposal for state reform was in fact launched yesterday by Paulo Portas, the deputy prime minister, and included suggestions that a balanced budget should be incorporated in law, reforms to the institutional structure of the pesky judicial system, cutting military personnel to 32,000, merging town councils etc. His ‘guidelines for a better state’ are contained in 112 pages and even has a section on helping to 'restore the independence of the country,' presumably post-Troika.
Seguro did answer some questions that touched on state reform rather than the business of the day – the 2014 budget, "our position is very clear - the PS is not available to amend the constitution, particularly when the document aims to dismantle the welfare state,"
In the state reform document, the Government invites political parties and social partners to participate in the discussion of state reform that also involves a revision of the constitution.
António José Seguro ended this brisk parliamentary session by criticising the prime minister for focusing on the Troika leaving the country in June of next year, "the government creates the illusion that the Troika when it leaves will take our problems away with it. This is not true. Today the country has problems, starting with the high unemployment rate which is much higher than it was two years ago."
Prime imister Passos Coelho wants a smooth ride to next June with lots of cooperation from other parties, a desire that the compliant president Cavaco Silva has started to champion on his own round of meetings. This will enable the prime minster to blame any party outside the fold when the Troika leaves town, the cloak is taken away and Portugal has to face up to the bare economic facts resulting from years of inept management.
