On the first day of the debate on the state budget for 2022 in the Assembly of the Republic in general, Antonio Costa launched the last calls to make the document workable on Wednesday in Parliament, and thus moved on to the debate in the specialty.
The Prime Minister argued that “Prohibition of discussion in the specialty” OE2022 is to prevent all political forces from being able to improve the document.
Costa also stated that the government wanted to continue budget negotiations on the left, asked for the spirit of compromise and argued that there was no justification for ending the political solution that began in 2016.
We do not use blackmail and ultimatums, and we do not close the door to dialogue. This debate is generally a good time to continue. If you please, ladies and gentlemen, the specialization phase is really the time to discuss proposals and drafts in detail,” the Prime Minister stated.
The leader of the Parliamentary Socialist Party today also appealed to the left-wing bloc, the Palestinian People’s Party and the PEV to agree to continue budget negotiations in the specialization stage and not to choose to prefer discussion in the media.
This position was conveyed by Ana Catarina Mendez in the first stage of the debate, in an intervention in which she criticized the PSD, but also left a challenge to the parties on the left of the Socialist Party.
“We are at the beginning of the budget discussion. Let’s stop the debate in the media and discuss here in this House, in Parliament, the improvement of the budget. So there is political will.
In this context, the head of the PS parliamentary group appealed, “the seats on the left, which have given the country a path to growth since 2016, may continue to work in the specialty.”
Where is the hope that the document will reach the specialty? In the PAN, the two unregistered MPs, Joasin Catar Moreira and Cristina Rodriguez, and in the Madeira PSD.
After discussion and conversation with Eduardo Ferro Rodriguez, Deputy Bibiana Cunha of PAN argued that this “budget should go into the specialty”, not only because it is “a document that clearly needs improvement”, but also because the government has already demonstrated the “openness” to make it.
Thus, the Animal and Nature deputy did not rule out the possibility of voting in favor of the OE2022 proposal, if necessary to make it generally possible. He stressed that “the National Action Party will always have a responsible attitude.”
If, in addition to these potential favorable votes, Antonio Costa succeeds in converting at least one abstention to the two unregistered deputies, and in the absence of Rui Rio, the votes in favor of the Social Democratic Party deputies of Madeira, he will obtain approval of the document.
However, this last point does not seem easy. Miguel Albuquerque, President of the Madeira Regional Government, said he is ready to speak, but that “so far no one wants to talk.”
Roy Rio says he interpreted the regional leader’s words as Wood is not for sale..
Asked whether there was a guarantee that there would be no different votes by the three SPD-Madeira deputies regarding the vote against the resolution by the national leadership, Río answered in the affirmative.
“That was the guarantee given to me. But I don’t even want to put things in these terms, nothing has changed, we are all in solidarity,” he said.
Regardless of this scenario, one of these three protagonists, say the Social Democrats, would have been replaced by a reverse in PCP or BE situations, which is equally unexpected.
Miracles aside, and with his feet firmly planted in Parliament, Costa asserted that in the event of an early election, he would run for Secretary-General of the Socialist Party, rejecting a resignation to speed up the process – a statement that angered Roy Rio.
In Belem, there is a lot of excitement and Publico announces on Tuesday the calendar of the President of the Republic until the dissolution of Parliament – In the expected scenario and not in the scenario of abstracts with written proportions. According to the newspaper, Marcelo, if the introduction in the document is confirmed, will receive, on the same day, Ferro Rodriguez and Antonio Costa. This is followed by the social partners on Friday, the parties early next week, and the State Council on Wednesday.
Only after this series of meetings does the President of the Republic announce the decision to dissolve Parliament for the state, a decision he himself has already taken in the event that the budget has not been passed in general.
After all this, the President of the Republic may manage the publication of the decree in the Official Gazette of the Assembly of the Republic to meet the constitutional deadlines, with elections scheduled between 55 and 60 days after the decree’s publication. In order for the elections to take place at the period it deems most appropriate, at a time when two right-wing parties, the Public Security Directorate and the City Development Council, are going through internal disputes over leadership.
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