Paulo Raimundo warns PS against enabling state budget at 50th Festa do Avante

Warning over the state budget

Portuguese Communist Party Secretary-General Paulo Raimundo closed the 50th edition of Festa do Avante on Sunday with a sharp challenge to the Socialist Party over the upcoming 2027 State Budget. Addressing thousands of supporters at Quinta da Atalaia in Seixal during a speech lasting more than thirty minutes, Raimundo warned that facilitating the budget provides the PSD and CDS government with the political room to intensify measures against public services. He emphasized that the Socialist Party, led by José Luís Carneiro, would share direct responsibility for the consequences if it decides to allow the budget legislation to pass. Raimundo added that enabling the executive would free the right-wing Chega party from taking a stand, providing it additional space to mislead voters while supporting conservative economic policies.

If the PS does so, it confirms its complicity with right-wing policy and offers the PSD/CDS government, Chega, and IL more space to elevate the attack.

Social Security and cost of living

Raimundo warned that the government is preparing an assault on the Social Security system designed to compromise future pensions and redirect worker funds to private financial interests. He criticized the single social benefit legislation recently approved with Socialist support, arguing that the framework narrows access to social protection and stigmatizes low-income recipients. Addressing broader economic conditions, the communist leader dismissed statements from Prime Minister Luís Montenegro regarding wage gains, characterizing the executive as a master of illusion whose claims clash with escalating household expenses. Raimundo pointed to rising living costs across food, housing, and fuel, noting that expanding household expenses contrast with record earnings in the banking and energy sectors. He also condemned the administration for offering no relief on bottled gas prices, neglecting victims of recent severe weather, and arranging what he described as a shady transaction regarding the state's entry into power grid operator REN.

Popular mobilization and parliamentary forces

The communist leader argued that Portugal's core problems stem directly from government policy rather than individual ministerial incompetence, clever posturing, or unresolved scandals. He pointed to public mobilizations across the country as evidence that coordinated resistance can defeat government plans, specifically referencing street demonstrations that successfully blocked proposed labor law modifications. Raimundo praised that outcome as a victory achieved through consistent grassroots opposition by workers, retirees, and youth. He argued that right-wing parliamentary groups, including Chega and Iniciativa Liberal, remain aligned with the government on structural economic goals. He cited Chega's backing of reductions to corporate income tax rates as evidence of its alignment with large financial interests despite its populist rhetoric.

International positions and festival milestone

The Sunday rally concluded the three-day political festival, coinciding with Raimundo's 50th birthday and marking exactly 50 years since the inaugural Festa do Avante. The secretary-general avoided mentioning the parliamentary censure motion debated on the preceding Tuesday, focusing instead on international solidarity and criticizing political forces that promote xenophobia. Raimundo denounced foreign policy initiatives by the United States, NATO, and the European Union, accusing them of fueling armed conflicts across Eastern Europe and the Middle East. He reaffirmed party backing for the sovereign statehood of Palestine, the Sahrawi people, and the Venezuelan population. He also condemned the economic embargo against Cuba as an act of war, prompting the audience to chant slogans supporting the Caribbean nation.