PM ‘guarantees’ he will clarify doubts about ‘single social’ PSU benefit

Prime minister Luís Montenegro has ‘guaranteed’ today that he will ‘clarify parties’ doubts’ on the single social benefit (PSU) which the government appears to be trying to bring in at lightning speed (by August).

As early reports explained, the ‘rush’ is in not losing out on hundreds of thousands of euros in European funding (that runs out in August).

But there is also enormous suspicion, not to say, distrust, over the small print of a plan that seeks to lump together 13 current benefits, and asks beneficiaries to start performing community service (at no less than 15 hours per week) in order to receive them.

When one appreciates that some of the benefits included are ‘subsidies for the elderly’, for widows, and for invalids, the ‘grey area’ can be easily identified.

But it is not just here that the doubts have arisen. It is in the fact that this is yet another example of how the minority centre-right AD government is trying to rule by ‘decree’, and what are called ‘legislative authorisations’.

It is a ‘legislative authorisation’ that AD (standing for the ‘democratic alliance’ of PSD and CDS-PP) is seeking for the PSU, “with a decree tagged on”. As Expresso has explained, this in itself is not so much the problem, it is the fact that “several important aspects of the measure remain open to interpretation, particularly regarding the reference value of the PSU; the impact of stricter access conditions on the number of beneficiaries, and the overall impact on the State Budget”.

The government has stressed that there “are no cuts” in the plan (for those already in receipt of the 13 benefits being lumped together under one title) – but again, there appears to be great reserve in taking this government on face value. The mere fact that it is seeking ‘legislative authorisation’ to rule by decree ‘as a matter of urgency’ seems to smack to CHEGA at least of a hidden agenda. Party leader André Ventura has said CHEGA will be voting against any kind of legisative authorisation.

The PM, meantime, in his ‘guarantee’ to explain everything, has ‘recalled’ (Lusa’s words) that “there is a tradition in Portugal to attach decree-laws to requests for legislative authorisation”.

He did not give examples, but he threw out the challenge: do parties “want to concentrate a very diverse set of social supports for those who are the poorest, the most vulnerable in society into one PSU? Do they want to moralise these aids? Do they want to try to better supervise and give greater reciprocity to solidarity with one another?”

Put this way, parties might well be more enthusiastic. But it is the small print, highlighted by Expresso today, that has raised concerns. For example, the requirement for beneficiaries to work 15-hours per week for their particular benefit on pain of losing that benefit, for two years, if they don’t. Clearly, if the elderly and the very young are taken out of the equation, the ‘community work’ angle is less worrying, but PS Socialists have still said they are uncomfortable with this demand.

And then there is the intention to ‘reduce the maximum limit’ of money to be received, by ‘including more assets’ to measure a beneficiary’s ‘wealth’.

None of the ‘itty bitty details’ have been properly laid out. In the words of Expresso, “we will have to wait for all the legislation to be finalised to fully understand the details of the new social benefit, but for now, the Ministry of Labor clarifies that “the eligibility criteria consider the total value of all movable assets and all registered personal property of the applicant and their family members; there is no weighting as there is for income.”

Source material: Expresso/ LUSA