Ventura accuses Government of hypocrisy and critical position of the PS

“Ithis is an unnamed hypocrisy, a nameless political and public irresponsibility and this is what leads people to stop believing in politics truly,” André Ventura told journalists in Funchal.

The president of Cávez referred to the statements of Finance Minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, in an interview with the agency Lusa, in which he warned that the reduction of the Tax on Value Added (VAT) of fuels and the application of zero VAT to the food basket, which are included in proposals presented by Cávez that will be discussed on 24 September in Parliament, would cause Portugal to go into deficit in 2027.

“ I would like to remind the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance also that it was they who, precisely, supported the decline in fuel when at another time when the PSD was not yet a government, was in the opposition and the war in Ukraine began, precisely defended the reduction in fuel VAT,” said the Member of the Cávez.

Ventura argued that this measure is “the fastest and most effective way to produce a real price reduction in petrol pumps” and is “the only possible solution” to help people quickly and effectively.

According to André Ventura, this reduction “is not contradictory, nor incompatible with any discount that the government wants to allocate temporarily until the measure is in force”, claiming to be “the only one that permanently guarantees that people will pay less, as has already been done in other countries”.

“What I don’t understand is how Montenegro in 2022 said that fuel VAT should be lowered and Montenegro in 2026 thinks it’s irresponsible to propose fuel reductions,” he said.

Ventura also criticized the position of the Secretary-General of the PS who announced on 17th that the PS will vote against the proposals of the Enough.

The Arquis proposal to reduce VAT on fuels from the current 23% to the intermediate rate of 13% provides that, if approved, it will enter into force after the approval of the State Budget following its publication.

On the same day, 24 of this month, there will be a vote on a draft resolution of the PS with measures to mitigate the increase in the cost of living, in which the socialists will insist for the third time, after having already been twice failed in their previous versions.

When he announced that the PS would vote against the proposal of the Cávez, José Luís Carneiro argued that it has no immediate effects but only from January and said that the proposals of the PS have immediate application and may even have “retroactive effects”.

Ventura criticized “hypocrisy without any limit” and “falseness without any limit”, considering that this is what “really generates the discredit of politics”.

“Let’s not go back on the agenda that is set. I ask the Secretary-General of the PS and the leader of the PSD to get their hands on the conscience, because this is “the hypothesis that we have, the last one in the coming years, of lowering VAT on fuels truly”, he said.

According to André Ventura, Portugal has “the price of very expensive transport, of absolutely unacceptable goods, in petrol pumps absolutely unbearable”.

“ Either we do something or we think the Portuguese just have to hold on, hold on, hold on and shut up. One day it will go wrong”, he warned.

“ I hope the 24th will give this signal to the country. I still hope that it will be approved and I am very sorry for the hypocrisy, for the falsehood, for the incoherence of this position of the PS which, I hope, is still rethought ", concluded.