Lisbon, June 17, 2025 (Lusa) - More than 42,000 young people have made use of the public guarantee on their mortgage loans, the prime minister announced on Tuesday, saying that this is data collected up to 31 May.

"It is precisely with a view to the middle class, and the younger middle class in particular, that we have implemented a tax exemption scheme in terms of IMT and stamp duty, to which is also added a public guarantee that I can say, as of 31 May, has already been used by 42,740 beneficiaries," he said.

Luís Montenegro was responding to a request for clarification from the Left Bloc's sole member of parliament, Mariana Mortágua, during the debate on the government's programme.

This measure, implemented by the last government, also led by Luís Montenegro, allows young people up to the age of 35 to obtain up to 100% financing on their mortgage loans.

In her question to the prime minister, Mortágua considered that housing prices are attacking the middle class and that there is "a factory of the poor installed in the country, which is the housing crisis".

Mariana Mortágua accused the government of making "empty promises", challenging it to use the expression "promise cheque instead of supply shock".

"I don't even think it's out of ill will, there is no capacity to build at this rate, and this construction is not enough to solve the housing crisis, and the government's inability to consider other solutions is holding the country back and is crushing the middle class," she criticised.

In his response, the prime minister acknowledged that the goal of building more public housing has been "difficult to achieve", but refused to be "defeatist and pessimistic".

"I think we still can stimulate construction in the public sector and we also can stimulate construction in the private sector," pointing out that "in the public sector the execution rate is now increasing".

"We have an execution rate of 27% for these 26,000 homes and, according to the information that the municipalities have given us by the end of June, 13,429 homes will be ready under this programme," he said.

Luís Montenegro also considered that there were "administrative and bureaucratic blockages", which had to be overcome, that delay the construction of new homes.

The government leader also said that in the last parliamentary elections the country said it didn't want the housing policy defended by the BE, and that the Portuguese "know that when you limit rents there are fewer houses on the market, and when there are fewer houses on the market, the price goes up".

The PAN MP accused the government of leaving the fight against domestic violence out of its priorities and called for more support for victims.

Inês de Sousa Real also asked the government if it was prepared to criminalise "all forms of ill-treatment against all animals".

In his reply, the prime minister pointed out that domestic violence has a chapter in the government's programme and referred to measures implemented by the previous government, such as the opening of two new victim support offices in Porto and Seixal.

As for animal protection, Montenegro said that it is one of the priorities, which will be increased "with balance, reconciling animal protection with all the other activities in which it has to be considered".

For his part, the lone MP from the JPP pointed out the "positive points" of the government's programme, such as the reform of the state, measures to regulate immigration, investments in infrastructure, or the goal of "transforming Portugal", but he also pointed out "a tremendous flaw" in the document, saying that it "doesn't make a single reference" to the mobility allowance enjoyed by the inhabitants of the autonomous regions.

In his response to Filipe Sousa, the prime minister considered that "there is fear of making decisions at the technical level and there is fear of making decisions at the political level" and this must be combated if the country is to move forward.

Luís Montenegro also emphasised that the government has not forgotten the autonomous regions, saying that there will still be an opportunity in this debate to return to these issues, and expressed openness to "implementing and improving the mobility allowance in the future".

FM/ADB // ADB.

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