The first reactions of the main opposition parties to the State Budget proposal for 2026 (OE2026) were more positive from the PS secretary general, José Luís Carneiro, than from Chega’s president, André Ventura, but Until the final global vote, scheduled for November 27th, something can be done for the predictable approval of the document presented this Thursday by the Minister of Finance, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento.
The message was clear from the beginning of Miranda Sarmento’s intervention that the Government will have a “narrow margin” in negotiations with the opposition, although the 91 deputies from the AD parties are clearly insufficient for the approval of OE2026, which will only be possible, at least, with the abstention of Chega (60) or the PS (58).
Despite the criticisms that socialist deputies made of the document, whose presentation was brought forward to Thursday, José Luís Carneiro highlighted that the proposal “corresponded to the demands made by the PS”particularly with regard to the removal of controversial topics, which will be dealt with separately, such as labor reform and tax policy and immigration. And the secretary general assured that he will fulfill his commitment to contribute to political stability, making the State Budget viable, with the exception that he will have to listen to party bodies next week.
Despite this, late this Thursday afternoon, in an analysis of the document, published in the Assembly of the Republic, socialist deputy António Mendonça Mendes criticized the planned economic growth target, also accusing the center-right of wasting the budget surplus of socialist executives.
For his part, André Ventura predicted that the Portuguese “will not feel any fiscal relief” and spoke out against what he said was an “expectation of a brutal increase in fuel tax revenue”raising the hypothesis that “a covert maneuver to increase taxes” is at stake.
Even so, some of the choices made by Luís Montenegro’s government are in line with Chega’s political priorities, particularly with regard to investment in security forces, increases in pensions and a reduction in the total amount allocated to social inclusion income.
Among the parties that support the Government, the idea remains that the most important thing will be for “the opposition parties to express a sense of State”. Although it is clear that the need to implement the funds from the Recovery and Resilience Program “significantly reduces” the negotiation margin, which should not greatly exceed 200 million euros. Especially because, for centrist parliamentary leader Paulo Núncio, there is the conviction that any party that creates a political crisis “will be heavily penalized”.