President warns measures will have to be revised ‘according to circumstances’
Portugal’s confederation of businesses has diplomatically given the government’s energy support package the thumbs down.
Conceding that measures “go in the right direction”, they are “unhappily (…) weak and thus below requirements”.
Confederation president António Saraiva added that the government’s solutions for his sector are “late and reductive” (insufficient).
It was altogether the ‘damp squib’ everyone could see coming the moment talk veered in the direction of ‘credit lines’. As businesses have stressed time and again, no-one wants to get into any more debt.
Opposition parties have been suitably scathing – remarking on the government’s lack of ambition and almost blinkered obstinacy when it comes to fiscal intervention.
While other countries have forged ahead reducing IVA and taxes on businesses, Portugal is tip-toeing through minutiae, not even taking any kind of initiative over windfall taxation of energy companies.
The ‘lack of effective measures’ appears to be uniting parties in Opposition: left to right, none are satisfied.
President Marcelo remarked in Luanda yesterday that however it has been presented the package will have to be adjusted/ revised ‘according to the evolution of circumstances’.
Socialist MP Carlos Pereira appeared around about the same time in parliament to tell journalists: “We aren’t stopping here. It is important not to forget that”: the PS will “continue analysing the economic situation of the country in order to calibrate measures of support for families and businesses in the next State Budget” which is due to be present to parliament in October.
