The Central Committee of the PCP analysed both the current political, economic and social situation, namely the developing mass struggle, the offensive against the workers and the Portuguese people with the 2011 State Budget proposal containing a new worsening factor and the increasing importance of the battle of presidential elections in the current situation of the country.
The most recent development in the national political situation is marked by the presentation of the 2011 State Budget proposal. The set of measures it contains represent yet another serious step in the brutal escalade against the income from labour, the workers’ and peoples’ rights, the social duties of the State and strongly penalizes the development of the country.
Three months after the last “austerity” package, which meant a further worsening of the social situation and more economic crisis, these new measures reveal, in their full extension, the class nature of the right-wing policy undertaken by PS and PSD, with the support of the big economic groups and financial capital, the complicity of CDS-PP and the patronage of the President of the Republic.
Adding crisis to crisis, the measures contained in the Budget will not solve the country’s problems, but will lead to a new economic recession, more unemployment and social injustice, an increase in the structural deficits, greater vulnerability and higher exposure to the voraciousness of transnational capital and the interests of the main European powers. With its undeniable mark of class, what is now announced is a brutal attack on wages and salaries, a key factor in the increase of exploitation affecting all workers. Attack on social protection, with new cuts in subsidies such as family allowance or social integration, a freeze on pensions and retirement payments and tax extensions on them, a reduction in reimbursements on healthcare costs and medicines. At the same time it weakens Social Security, applying a more than 10% cut in State transfers. Attack on the purchasing power of the population, not only by cutting the income of the workers, but also through a new increase in VAT, energy, costs of court fees and other State fees.
The government’s proposal increases the tax burden on labour incomes, increasing the collection of Income Tax, namely by imposing limits on deduction [on wages] over 530 Euros per month. Attack on employment and rights of the workers, with the announced elimination of jobs in the Public Administration and a freeze on admissions which, besides jeopardizing public functions – in health, education and social security – will represent a worsening of the of unemployment and dismantling of public services.
A Budget which will represent a new threat to the survival of thousands of micro, small and medium size companies, namely by penalizing domestic consumption, yet another brutal drop in public investment, like the 20% cut in PIDDAC [Investment and Development Costs Programme by the Central Administration] and new restrictions in the transfer of funds to the Autonomous Regions and Local governments.
The Central Committee denounces that, together with the unbearable sacrifices imposed on the workers, PS and PSD are preparing to leave untouched the privileges and conditions for the accumulation of profit by the main economic and financial groups. With more than 90% of the bill supported by the workers, and this affects all those living from labour income – direct targets both of the measures to increase revenue (1 700 million Euros) and the cuts in expenditure (3 420 million Euros) - big business, once again, has its interests safeguarded.
The Central Committee of the PCP points out that what is sought to be presented as unavoidable is, basically, the same choice as always, a choice determined by the interests of the capitalist class, that PS, PSD and CDS-PP have for long pursued.
This is not the Budget the country needs. Hence, the PCP will vote against this State Budget proposal. The PCP reaffirms that there is a different course to answer the problems of the country. A course which faces the pressures by capital and does not founder under foreign pressure. A course which defends and develops national production and the productive apparatus as a condition to increase the national wealth, drive exports, cut imports, lower the deficit and foreign debt. It also reaffirms that the proposals presented in the Budget are not unavoidable measures, nor the only solution, as they say, including to combat the deficit immediately. On this special aspect, the PCP draws attention to the twenty measures it presented to the country, which would not only substantially reduce unnecessary or redundant spending, but would increase revenue without increasing the already heavy tax burden on the workers, the pensioners and on the micro and small entrepreneurs. Twenty measures, five of which would ensure significantly higher tax revenue, and to finally begin taxing incomes and profits that now pay no taxes. Measures in relation to which there is a great silence or are made to sound unviable.
Given the violent offensive under way and the demand for a new course for the country, the Central Committee considers that the development and intensification of the mass struggle is a key factor to block the right wing policy and its brutal effects and affirms the importance of the General Strike called by CGTP-IN on this coming November 24th., a decision which answers the need to elevate the workers’ struggle in view of the brutal offensive underway.
The PCP valorises the demanding dynamics and the efforts of contact, explanation and mobilization underway in the companies and workplaces and the developing set of struggle actions and stresses the importance of the national rally by the Public Administration workers called by the Common Front unions on November 6th. in Lisbon.
The Central Committee appeals to the various sectors targeted by the current policy and to the populations to join the General Strike and encourages the workers to get involved in its preparation, organisation and to participate in a great patriotic demonstration of resistance, non-conformism and struggle and also highlights the special importance of the rally against the holding of the NATO Summit in Portugal, called by the campaign “Yes to Peace, no to NATO”, on November 20th., in Lisbon.
The Central Committee stresses, in this framework of a great anti-social and anti-popular offensive, the increased importance and values of the candidacy of Francisco Lopes to the Presidency of the Republic. With a clarity of purpose and a positioning that clearly distinguishes it from all others, the candidacy of Francisco Lopes assumes in these elections an essential and irreplaceable role, either by its solid bond to the interests of the workers and the people, or its coherent assumption of their struggle and aspirations as factors in building an alternative, patriotic and left-wing policy. A candidacy which, contrary to all others, has no trail of commitment or involvement with the right wing policy that has dragged the country into decline.
The Central Committee reaffirms that the most brutal offensive underway against the rights of the workers and the Portuguese people since the times of fascism, the process of blackmail and pressure on national interests led by big national and foreign capital, which is linked to a framework of increasing subordination to the guidelines of the European Union, cannot be defeated without a rupture with the right-wing policy and a profound change in national life.
