Socialist secretary-general José Luís Carneiro has announced a “demanding abstention” on the 2026 State Budget to “ensure the (country’s) political stability” in spite of the document’s content.

The announcement was made after a meeting of the PS National Political Commission, which ended in the early hours of this morning, and followed a Tuesday meeting with the PS parliamentary group on the party’s position on the budget.

According to Carneiro, both meetings agreed with his strategy. The budget is one “that doesn’t belong to the PS”, but it is not the time to cause (further) political ructions, he said.

This ‘contribution to stability’ means that “the Plan for Recovery and Resilience (PRR) can be finalised next year”, and “is the expression of a firm, but also constructive and responsible opposition”.

“We unabashedly assume that this is not the PS’s budget. With the PS government, this would be a substantially different budget in terms of measures and objectives. This is a budget that doesn’t respond to our economic policy options, it doesn’t respond to our social policy options, it doesn’t respond to our vision for the country’s development, nor to our strategic options in the various sectors of activity.”

It is, in the PS leader’s view, “a budget empty of ambition and content” and “without a strategy to improve the economy and the lives of families”.

“It is a budget that, while continuing to worsen public accounts, is devoid of decisive measures to support families and businesses. With this budget, the government confesses that it has failed to live up to its words when it comes to economic policy,” Carneiro added.

Asked whether abstention is only valid for the general voting (at the end of this month) or whether it will be the PS’s position throughout, the PS leader seemed to hedge his bets.

“It now depends on what happens in the specialised section” – meetings that take place throughout November – he said.

“The general principle is that we contribute to stability, which means that abstention is for the budget as a whole, but it will also depend a lot on how the government looks at the parties, in this case the Socialist Party, in the specialised dialogue.”

Despite his “guarantee of stability”, José Luís Carneiro was at pains to make it clear that the PS does not identify with this budget and anticipates areas in which it will have to present measures – such as ensuring that the lowest pensions will not be reduced, and “minimising the increase in the cost of living, namely in the purchase of essential food products, as well as housing costs”.

The increase in support mechanisms for former armed forces combatants, the introduction of a reduced rate of income tax for complementary services provided by firefighters, the strengthening of business competitiveness and stimulating economic growth and the reduction of context costs for companies, are other aspects that the PS says it wants to see improved – as well as the revision of the Local Finance Law.