Portugal's CDS Says It May Decide Not to Back Teachers' Plan
(Bloomberg) -- Portugal’s conservative CDS party said it won’t back a proposal in parliament on retroactive compensation for teachers if it doesn’t include certain requirements, such as “a guarantee of financial sustainability.”
Those requirements were in the party’s proposal from the start and were opposed by all parties on the left, including the ruling Socialists, CDS said on Sunday in a statement signed by party leader Assuncao Cristas. “The final proposal hasn’t been voted yet,” it said.
Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Friday that his minority Socialist government would resign if parliament gives final approval to a plan that would increase teachers’ pay, saying it was “financially unsustainable.” A proposal on this plan had been initially approved in a parliamentary committee meeting on Thursday, with only the ruling Socialists voting against.
Rui Rio, the leader of the center-right PSD party, the biggest opposition group, has still not spoken publicly following Costa’s announcement.
Costa has indicated he won’t loosen fiscal discipline in a year in which he faces elections. Finance Minister Mario Centeno, who chairs the Eurogroup meetings of euro-area finance ministers, set a budget deficit target of 0.2 percent for 2019, which would be Portugal’s smallest shortfall in four decades of democracy.
While the deficit has narrowed and borrowing costs have plunged since the euro crisis, Portugal’s debt burden remains the third-highest in the euro area behind Greece and Italy. Costa took office at the end of 2015, reversing state salary cuts faster than the previous administration proposed while raising indirect taxes. His budgets have been backed in parliament by the Left Bloc, Communists and Greens.
European parliament elections take place on May 26 and Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has scheduled a general election for Oct. 6. The ruling Socialists had 37 percent support in a poll published by Jornal de Noticias on April 28, leading PSD by 12 percentage points.
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