The PCP defended today that the country needs “a real shake-up” and a change in policies, with the BE presenting a proposal for banks to lower interest rates on housing loans.
In a political statement at the parliament’s Permanent Committee, PCP deputy Alma Rivera argued that “it is time to use voting as a weapon to defend the values of justice and solidarity”.
“The country doesn’t need more right-wing politics in pink or orange, more upright or more strident, the country needs a real jerk that restores justice in our lives”, he considered.
Alma Rivera highlighted that the policy change “is a necessity for the overwhelming majority of the population”, but “not for the richest 5% who hold 42% of all national wealth in their hands”.
“For those, right-wing politics is fine with them. Wherever it comes from, from an unimpeded PS, as one of its deputies called them, or from the PSD, IL or Chega. As long as everything stays the same”, he criticized.
The communist deputy said that, because they knew “that everything must change so that everything stays as it is”, the “owners of all this” began to “finance and promote new protagonists to practice the same right-wing policy”.
“They also bet on new horses, with the guarantee that everything will stay the same: the one at the top goes up and the one at the bottom goes down. A minority with everything and a majority with almost nothing”, he stated.
Alma Rivera argued that a policy that “resolves problems” is necessary, considering that there is currently “a promiscuity between political and economic power”, and made several criticisms of the Government’s actions in areas such as housing, health, agriculture, telecommunications or security forces.
“We soon have an opportunity to change, not just our faces, but our policies”, he defended, calling for a vote for the CDU in the next legislative elections.
In turn, BE, through its parliamentary leader, Pedro Filipe Soares, dedicated its political declaration to the “tremendous increase” in banking profits in 2023, highlighting that they are expected to correspond to “more than five billion euros, around 2% of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“What is the explanation for these numbers? The explanation is simple: it is called financial margin”, he said, highlighting that this margin corresponds to the difference between the interest that banks charge for loans and those that they pay for deposits.
According to Pedro Filipe Soares, “Portuguese banks pay much less for the deposits they have than European banks” and, conversely, “charge much more than the European average” when it comes to loans, particularly in housing .
The blocist deputy accused the Government of having done nothing about this matter, highlighting that Caixa Geral de Depósitos, fully owned by the State, does “exactly the same” as the rest of the banks, which he considered shows “the insensitivity of national banks, but also from the PS Government”.
Pedro Filipe Soares said that BE has “a direct and simple proposal” to respond to this situation, namely using the Caixa Geral de Depósitos margin “to lower the interest rate charged by 1.5 percentage points”.
“A credit [à habitação] of 150 thousand euros, over 30 years, you may have a reduction in charges of 1,600 euros per year. This is lowering family accounts”, he argued, adding that this proposal also provides for customers to be able to switch to Caixa if other banks do not offer the same conditions.
The parliamentary leader of BE considered that it is the courage to implement this type of measures that will be voted on on March 10, calling for the use of Caixa Geral de Depósitos “to force all national banks to defend families”.