In an interview with RTP António Costa guaranteed that he managed to achieve the goal he set as soon as he learned the results of the elections: to maintain a “majority of social, political dialogue and with society as a whole”. Giving as examples the “agreement of social consultation, agreement with the civil service and agreement with the municipalities for decentralization”

Antonio Costa

The Prime Minister wanted to focus the conversation on the measures that the Government has taken to respond to the increase in survival and the cost of living, trying to escape the controversies that have haunted the Government in recent months. Regarding the “little cases” that gave rise to the 13 changes in the Government, António Costa admits that “the Government got the hang of it, made mistakes”, since it is natural that with an absolute majority there is a greater degree of “scrutiny and requirement” and that the Government “did not always respond to the doubts that existed”.

However, consider that many of these cases “did not have political consequences” because they were not really serious, reinforcing that there were “three people who left for ethical or legal reasons”.

regarding Pedro Nuno Santos and the way in which the former Minister of Infrastructure authorized the compensation of Alexandra Reis through a WhatsApp message, after much questioning, the Prime Minister ended up leaving a question: “Do you think that any Prime Minister can validate this type of decision? Expensive that not”.

As for Fernando Medina and the considerations that are taking place during his term as president of the Lisbon City HallAntónio Costa refers that the Minister of Finance “was not heard, nor was he made an accused, let alone accused” so he prefers not to speculate, admitting that he was also accused twice and that his activity was not limited in any way.

However, “in principle, if there is an accusation, a member of the Government should not remain in office, but it depends on the type of crime that is and if he undertakes the exercise of his functions”, admitted the Prime Minister.

On the 36 questions that the new members of the Government must answer, in an attempt to reduce the number of questions of incompatibilities and lack of ethics António Costa explained why the current members of the Executive do not have to answer: widely discussed and approved in the Council of Ministers, so each member of the Government has already asked himself questions”.

Trying to overcome the controversies that marked António Costa’s last executive, the Prime Minister decided to focus on the Government’s concerns: “Reducing the impact of permanence on the lives of the Portuguese and people”.

With regard to teachers, António Costa admits that he understands “the acceptance of teachers” but that he is “very concerned about the situation of schools and the learning processes of young people.

However, he recalls that careers were thawed five years ago by his Government and that there were no changes, neither during the pandemic nor with the war, he also referred that the current proposals of the Executive intend to “change the model of fixing teachers to schools, bringing school teachers by reducing the distances covered and linking to combat precariousness”.

António Costa also guarantees that “the negotiation is ongoing and the Government has not even suspended it”, something that is normal when unions strike during the championship, despite reinforcing that “none of the current claims are made to measures that were taken by this government “.

The Prime Minister also wanted to clarify: “I am a democrat and it is part of democracy that there is a right to strike and I do not give lessons to unions and we are not going to change the law”. However, the law provides “the minimum services” because “you can’t make strikes that simply aim to disturb the functioning”, as I considered to be the strikes in the first half of STOP.

Regarding the increase in tolerance, António Costa was available for new measures to help the population “if necessary” and as long as they remain “on the margin of budget availability”. The Prime Minister remains positive and refers that “all the forecasts for this year say that Portugal will grow, not as much as we had last year but it will grow”, so “it is essential that we keep the pace”.

Therefore, the correct accounts policy of the Socialist Executive is what “debt control” is allowed, which means that “today we spend 2 billion euros less on debt than we spent in 2015”.

It was also made public that on the 16th of February there will be a Council of Ministers exclusively on housing where measures will be granted such as “liberation of public land, incentives for the construction of housing by private parties, incentives for owners to place housing rental market and support for young people in housing rental”.