Parliament approves Government program

The Assembly of the Republic approves this Wednesday the program of the XXV Constitutional Government, through the rejection of the PCP's motion of rejection, which does not have the support of PS and Chega.

The closing period has around two hours for interventions by the parties, in increasing order of representation, and by the Government, followed by the vote on the PCP's motion to reject the document, which the PS and Chega have already said is unfeasible.

On Tuesday, the debate was marked by some of the measures included in the document, such as fiscal policy, with a reduction in IRS announced by the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, for the coming weeks, as well as immigration policy, in which a “tightening of the rules” was assumed, but without suspending family reunification.

The Prime Minister also said, regarding the review of the nationality law, that the expansion of situations in which nationality may be lost will include serious behaviour “of a criminal nature” and announced an increase of 1,500 members of the PSP and GNR by the end of the year.

From a political point of view, the Prime Minister opened the debate by warning that the next legislature will only not last four years if there is a “deliberate, active and complicit coalition” between the two largest opposition parties, referring to the PS and Chega.

The Prime Minister also promised a “frank dialogue” and to “never diminish” the PS, but without excluding dialogue with other forces, in response to José Luís Carneiro, who asked him who he wants to dialogue with, but also asked him to depoliticize public administration.

The president of Chega, André Ventura, referred to a new parliamentary framework that demands “serious reforms” for Portugal, noting that it is now possible to exclude the PS from these reforms.

IL called for more meritocracy in the selection of public positions, Livre accused the Government of arrogance in including opposition measures in its program without consulting the political forces in parliament, while the PCP said that the document “smacks of the “troika””.

Only after the Government's program has been assessed and not rejected will the XXV Constitutional Government, which took office on June 5, take full office.