Castelo de Vide, Portugal, Aug. 26, (Lusa) - Former Finance Minister Maria Luís Albuquerque acknowledged on Tuesday that she wished she hadn't increased the tax rate from 21% to 28% and chose this as the measure she would reverse if she returned to office, a hypothesis she ruled out.

At the PSD Summer University, a training initiative for young people, the Portuguese commissioner responsible for Financial Services and the Union for Savings and Investments pointed to fragmentation as one of the biggest threats to European competitiveness and argued that the best way to combat nationalism is to create more wealth.

It wasn"t until the final part of the "lesson" that a question directly related to current national politics came up, with Maria Luís Albuquerque being asked what she would do differently in terms of economic policy if she were to return to the post of Finance Minister, which she held between 2013 and 2015, while still at the end of the period of financial assistance to Portugal.

"There's one measure that I didn't like at all and that today, with the duties and responsibility I have, I like even less: it was when we increased the tax rate from 21% to 28%,“ she said, referring to a rate that applies to interest, dividends and rents”.

For the commissioner, Portugal needs to stimulate savings and apply these savings in the economy. The increase in this rate was the "wrong incentive", which she justified with the difficult context of the "troika" period.

"At the time, we really had to raise taxes because spending is more rigid, because we tried to do other things that ended up not being possible, and we ended up having to raise taxes, and they all had to go up, and even as a matter of equity and justice," he recalled, However, from the point of view of tax utilisation, he stressed that this was "a decision I wish I hadn't made".

"And if I came back - which I wouldn't - it would be one of those I would like to reverse. I'm not saying it's easy, but precisely because of the message it sends and the incentive it gives to behaviours that I think are important for the future of our citizens and our companies," he said.

In a session dedicated to Europe, which also featured Secretary of State for European Affairs Inês Domingos, both were asked what defines European identity.

"The foundation has to be values. Values are what justify the European Union (...) And what unites us is much more than any differences that may exist," she said, arguing that "the way to fight nationalism is to fight its causes," such as Europe's lack of competitiveness.

"If we don't achieve economic growth to fulfil all the promises, we're going to have more and more of these problems. We really need to create wealth so that we can fulfil the expectations of our citizens and make them focus more on the values that unite us than on the specific concerns that can keep us apart," she said.

Inês Domingos considered that the diversity of the European Union "can even make it stronger", with the commissioner pointing out that, at the moment, "we need to focus a little more on unity and less on diversity", criticising the excessive fragmentation in the EU bloc.

"Europe has 450 million citizens in a single market and is second to none of the other blocs: it has financial resources - Europeans save more than anyone else in the rest of the world - but we have this divided into 27 compartments," she lamented.

As for her duties in this Commission, Maria Luís Albuquerque explained that her responsibility is to "create a true single European market", and pointed out recommendations that will be presented to the member states between the end of September and the beginning of October.

"A strategy for financial literacy, but also a recommendation that member states create savings and investment accounts that are accessible to everyone, and that a tax incentive accompany the creation of these accounts," she said.

Regarding the impact of US tariffs on European competitiveness, the Secretary of State favoured the fact that it was possible to reach a trade agreement between the two blocs and put an end to the uncertainty.

"There is at least one advantage: the realisation that Europe has become aware that it has to do more to depend on itself, we can no longer pretend that we didn't understand, this will help our competitiveness," said Maria Luís Albuquerque, adding that "the trade war part doesn't help anyone, neither here nor there".

SMA/ADB // ADB.

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