The Government wants to “clarify” and “end speculation” regarding the impasse in the negotiations of the State Budget (OE) for 2025. According to the Prime Minister’s office, Luís Montenegro has tried to schedule meetings with the opposition leader, but it is Pedro Nuno Santos who has been postponing them.
“The Prime Minister has, from the very beginning, been fully committed to the negotiation process for the approval of the State Budget for 2025”, the Prime Minister began by saying in a statement, indicating that since July the Government has been in dialogue with all parties with seats in parliament, with two rounds of meetings having been held.
“It is natural that both the Portuguese people and the Government recognize the particular responsibilities of the Socialist Party, having been in Government for the last eight years and being the largest opposition party”, it stresses. The Executive thus reports that following previous contacts between the delegations, the Prime Minister himself has been trying to schedule a meeting with the PS Secretary General since September 4th. “However, so far this has not happened due to the recurring unavailability of the Secretary General of the Socialist Party.”
According to Montenegro, the meeting was scheduled for the 18th, but was cancelled by Pedro Nuno Santos. The Prime Minister’s office has confirmed that it has tried again for this Sunday or for Monday and Tuesday, the day on which the Prime Minister will travel to New York to participate in the High-Level Session of the United Nations General Assembly. “However, the Secretary General of the Socialist Party has only said that he is available from the 27th, 23 days after the Prime Minister’s request for a meeting,” it reads.
The Prime Minister is said to have given “express instructions” to members of the Executive to avoid “hotbeds of tension” and “useless exchanges” of words in the public square. “The Government recognizes that the approval of the budget is in the national interest and will not contribute to any political instability,” the statement concludes.
PS argues that it was the Government that cancelled
Also in a statement, the PS described a different scenario. “Meetings between the leaders of the Socialist Party and the Government have been the subject of contact between the two parties, but the agendas of both have not yet allowed for this scheduling. A meeting scheduled for last week was cancelled by the Governmentafter the PS demanded that it be given prior public notice”, reports the party led by Pedro Nuno Santos.
The socialists’ statement came before the government’s and it was a reaction to the words of the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Pedro Duarte, who assured Lusa this Saturday that the Government “is available” to “negotiate and give in” on the State Budget proposal.
“The PS was surprised today by the statements made by the Minister of the Presidency regarding the negotiation process for the State Budget for 2025, which do not correspond to reality”, says the party.The PS awaits availability to meet with the Government and, in this context, present its proposals and reading of the budgetary framework shared by the government, as agreed in the last meeting between the PS and Government delegations”, he adds.
(News updated at 20:10)
Source: www.jornaldenegocios.pt
