Lisbon, June 17, 2025 (Lusa) - Socialist MP António Mendonça Mendes said on Tuesday that Portugal is "on a knife edge" when it comes to the budget and that the government programme is "an act of faith", with the PSD accusing the PS of wanting to scare the Portuguese.

"Net primary expenditure is growing above the average target agreed by the government in Brussels. At the end of last month, the European Commission recognised this deviation as the third largest in the eurozone. The return of the budget deficit in 2026 is taken for granted by the European Commission, the Public Finance Council and the Bank of Portugal. The budget balance forecast for this year varies between a positive 0.1% for the European Commission, zero for the Public Finance Council and negative 0.1% for the Bank of Portugal. We're on a knife-edge," warned António Mendonça Mendes.

The former government official was speaking during the discussion of the programme of the 25th Constitutional Government, which is taking place until Tuesday in parliament, when he considered that "the budgetary situation is in a downward phase" and left some warnings for the government led by Luís Montenegro.

The PS MP said that the country is heading into this parliamentary term "with a higher tax burden than last year, with GDP contracting and with macroeconomic variables signalling a reversal of the cycle".

"With net primary expenditure above the limit set with Brussels, with the deterioration of the primary structural balance and with the budget balance in the red, the scope for using fiscal policy to stabilise the economic cycle is very small, if not compromised," he warned.

For António Mendonça Mendes, compliance with the programme presented by the government "appears to be a challenge".

The socialist said that "ignoring the signs that the macroeconomic and budgetary variables indicate" and under these "adding the anticipation and increase in defence spending, the uncertainty arising from the ongoing trade war and geopolitical conflicts that have the immediate consequence of increasing the price of oil" and "acting as if nothing is happening", could result in the long term, "and not very long, in economic and budgetary degradation with profound and negative consequences for social welfare".

"Complying with this government programme is, in this context, more an act of faith than a rational choice. Not making a decision is also a decision with significant political implications. To accept this programme is to accept going against all the signs we have in front of us," he criticised.

In a request for clarification, PSD MP Emídio Guerreiro began by saying that the PS, after having governed "supposedly with miracles, is now becoming a herald of doom".

Emídio Guerreiro emphasised that the Socialists "have been wrong in the past" and called for this debate to be held only at the end of 2025.

"Until then, you just want to scare people unnecessarily," he criticised.

Emídio Guerreiro noted that "there is a new PS on the way", which will elect a new secretary-general, a post for which only José Luís Carneiro applied.

The social democrat noted that Carneiro has "a different style" from his predecessor, Pedro Nuno Santos, but warned that "being more moderate in form, being more sympathetic, more cordial is important. Still, it doesn't solve the problem", questioning the PS on its "degree of commitment to stability".

During a period dedicated to speeches by the various parties, Livre MP Filipa Pinto warned that culture "is under attack" from the far right and criticised the prime minister for having "remained silent" following the attacks by a far-right group on an actor from the A Barraca theatre company.

"It's not enough for culture to be included in the 'tutti frutti' ministry of Youth and Sport. This clearly shows that culture is not one of the government's priorities," he criticised, referring to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, under the supervision of Margarida Balseiro Lopes.

On behalf of the PCP, the party that tabled a motion to reject the government's programme, MP Alfredo Maia argued that the document is "a list of misdeeds".

In a request for clarification, social democrat Gonçalo Capitão accused the PCP of "ideological puffing" and said he had gone to the PCP's website and found a speech entitled "PCP, the vanguard of the working class".

"You may be the vanguard, but you're so far ahead, so far ahead that the working class can't and won't keep up with you," he said.

ARL/ADB // ADB.

Lusa