PSD seeks to delay vote on PSU

In a race against time not to lose €500 million in EU PRR funding, the ruling PSD party (the largest in the AD coalition) is seeking to delay the committee-stage vote on the PSU (single social benefit) until after this afternoon’s parliamentary session.

The move comes after talks this morning with the PS Socialists – following a breakdown in the support sought from right-wing CHEGA.

CHEGA’s line in the sand has to do with the party not accepting that immigrants could qualify for the PSU without necessarily having paid for a certain number of years into the Social Security System (many more than the two offered by the government); PS antipathy rests in the small print, which it says sets out to “punish the poor”.

In other words, without significant changes, neither party with the political numbers to help pass the government’s proposal seems prepared to play ball – and if ball is not played, the government stands to lose all those millions of euros.

Making the situation even more fraught is the existence of a tight deadline: if the PSU isn’t in place by August, the €500 million ‘evaporates’.

Thus, everything hinges on this afternoon’s ‘last ditch efforts’ at haggling.

With the prime minister out of the country (in the United States), it will be up to other key members of his cabinet.

Says SIC, “the negotiations are taking place at a time when the PSD, CDS-PP, and CHEGA appear to be aligned on tightening access conditions for foreign citizens seeking the benefit, advocating, among other measures, an increase in the minimum period of legal residence required to qualify for support.”

But there are no meetings scheduled between PSD and CHEGA today, so perhaps those negotiations have hit a brick wall.

The Single Social Benefit will be debated and voted on at the committee stage either later today, or before the final overall vote is scheduled for Thursday.

In a previous vote, held on June 18, the proposal was opposed by the Left Bloc (BE), the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), and former PS secretary-general and socialist ‘maverick’ Pedro Nuno Santos.

Source: SIC

Natasha Donn

Journalist for the Portugal Resident.