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Setúbal, 02 Sep 2021 (Lusa) –

The prime minister “believes that he lives in a wonderland, the problem is that the Portuguese live in the country of António Costa, and it is only in the country of António Costa that it is possible to say that it is an illusion to think that with 600 euros a year per family manages to support itself through the birth of a new child”, he stated.

Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos then argued that “600 euros a year to pay the expenses of a child is absolutely ridiculous” and that the Government's proposals to encourage births “are mere crumbs, they are alms that do not encourage any family in Portugal to have children".

On Wednesday, in an interview with RTP3, the Minister of Finance made known some measures of the next State Budget, which will include investments in the railway, in helping to integrate young people in the labor market, in education and in the Service National Health, with, according to him, "more public and private investment".

João Leão also guaranteed that until the end of the legislative term, families will receive 600 euros per child, and a couple with two children will be able to receive up to 1,500 euros in allowance.

From the perspective of the CDS-PP, which invited the prime minister to “suspend the negotiations on the State Budget with the far left and to talk” with the centrists about the proposals to encourage births, “more robust and more significant incentives are needed. that in fact constitute an opportunity and a freedom for families to have children”.

This includes “exemption from IRS for families with more children, a monthly fee per child that helps to truly defray the expenses that this adds to the household”, the possibility of “reconciling family life with professional life, allowing companies to have incentives and tax incentives for its professionals to promote the birth rate” and “also an increase in pensions for families with more children”, listed Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos.

“These incentives would constitute a more concrete, solid and more enthusiastic opportunity for us to counteract the biggest drop in birth rates we've had in the last 30 years”, defended the president of the CDS.

Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos was speaking to journalists in Setúbal, at the end of a boat trip in Sado with the candidate for the city council, Pedro Conceição.

Commenting on the negotiations between the Government and parties on its left over the next State Budget, the Christian Democrat leader considered that the Government is “hostage to the demands of the far left since it took office because that was the path it managed to achieve. to stay in power”.

“The Left Bloc feels that, every time it grits its teeth, the Socialist Government meets all its needs”, he pointed out, defending that “the recipe used over the last few years has diminished the freedom of the Portuguese and condemned the country economic and social setback, taking away all opportunities to recover the country”.

In the State Budget for next year, the CDS wants to see inscribed the proposal that it dubbed the “green way of health” (rejected by parliament last year), so that the State allows patients to go to the private sector for a specialty consultation or exam when the maximum waiting times are exceeded.