Portugal: PM to announce measures to help with rise in cost of living on Monday

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Portugal: PM to announce measures to help with rise in cost of living on Monday

4:53 CAT | 01 Sep 2022

Photo: Lusa

Portugal’s prime minister said he would announce measures to help families cope with the rising cost of living next Monday, stating that “strength comes from staying calm”.

At the joint press conference with the President of the Republic of Mozambique, with whom he met as part of the 5th Luso-Moçambican Summit in Maputo, António Costa was asked by the Portuguese press if he could advance some of these measures to support family income in the face of inflation, which will be approved by the extraordinary Cabinet meeting on Monday.

“It is necessary to ensure that both families and companies are able to face this situation and that is what we are working on. And Monday is almost the day after tomorrow,” he said.

António Costa warned that “inflation is one of the most difficult economic phenomena to face, manage and control” and pointed out that the end of the war in Ukraine is also unpredictable.

“Nobody knows how long the war will last, we only know that we all wish it would end in the next half hour, but we don’t know when it will end,” he stressed, drawing a parallel with the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Strength comes from staying calm and we are living a critical, difficult situation on a global level, for which we have to find solidarity responses in international terms, and in the European case many in the scope of the European Union, but also at the level of each State”, defended the head of government, pointing out that it is necessary to retain the idea that “together, leaving no one behind and with much serenity, we can face challenges with the dimension of those we are facing at the moment, and that we can find the path of collective protection and of overcoming this situation”.

Questioned also about when the next minister of health will be announced and about the proposal to remove the national offices of Interpol and Europol from the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Police, the prime minister said that internal policy issues are dealt with in Portugal and considered that “there will be no lack of opportunities to respond”.

Today, Portugal’s president argued that measures to support families and businesses to deal with inflation should be concerted at European level, saying he was waiting to see what package the government would announce.

“I think that at this moment, in all countries, a set of measures has to be considered. The ideal thing would be for it to be concerted at European level, otherwise inequalities in Europe will increase,” Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa told reporters as he left the Estoril Conferences, when asked about Spain’s announcement that it will reduce VAT on gas.

Source: Lusa