Meeting in Sintra today for the first time since the pandemic, the European Central Bank Forum saw calls to syndicates and employers by ECB president Christine Lagarde and Portugal’s central bank governor Mário Centeno to limit salary increases for 2023. They cannot ‘accompany this year’s inflation’, the pair explained, as if they do, they could create “secondary effects” on prices, making the cost of living crisis even worse. The appeal has not been welcomed by Isabel Camarinha of CGTP (the confederation of Portuguese workers) who has said “the struggle continues”, with a large demonstration demanding higher wages and pensions coming on July 7 in Lisbon.
