OE2025: Pedro Nuno says PS is willing to make concessions

PS Secretary General Pedro Nuno Santos said this Thursday that the party is willing to make concessions in the negotiation of the State Budget (OE) for 2025, but stressed that it will not uncritically accept the Government’s proposal.

In Braga, where he presided over the inauguration of the renovated headquarters of the PS Council, Pedro Nuno also said that the PS’s decision on the State Budget will not be conditioned by the possibility that it could result in early elections.

“In a democracy, when no one has an absolute majority, there have to be concessions and the PS will not deny them. We are not going to cancel ourselves and no one can ask the PS to cancel itself and uncritically accept a document with which we disagree. We can make concessions, we are available to do so, but there have to be concessions that are also important for us, for our vision of the country”, he said.

The PS leader said that the party wants to avoid early elections, but added that it is not afraid of them.

“We cannot be afraid of elections and I am not,” he stated, stressing that the decision the party will take “is not conditioned” by whether or not there are elections.

Pedro Nuno Santos recalled that those who voted for the PS “certainly did not want the AD to govern nor the AD’s program”.

“This requires us to have a sense of responsibility as those who want to avoid early elections in Portugal, but at the same time the certainty that we have to be faithful to what we presented to the Portuguese people,” he added.

In his speech, Pedro Nuno Santos also accused the executive led by Luís Montenegro of governing for minorities, giving as examples the IRS Jovem and the reduction of the IRC.

“He is governing for minorities”, he stressed, accusing the Government of widening the “gap between those who earn a lot and the rest of the population”.

According to the PS leader, the Government “got tired of presenting powerpoints”, but “governance is not measured by the number of presentations”.

“Governing is not about presenting powerpoints,” he criticized.