Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for the Euro
The ‘lead’ of the Portuguese State Budget for 2022 [OE2022] will require “some consultations” by the European Commission with the Portuguese authorities, to determine for sure how to proceed with the assessment of the budget plan, said today the vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis.
Asked during a press conference in Brussels about the disapproval of OE2022, on Wednesday, by the Assembly of the Republic, which paves the way for early legislative elections, the executive vice-president responsible for «An Economy at the Service of People» admitted that this situation “raises questions”, which the community executive will try to clarify with the Portuguese Government.
“We will now have to assess the situation with the Portuguese authorities regarding the draft budget plan for 2022 and decide how to proceed, in the sense that we need understand with the Portuguese authorities what the prospects are, how soon the next budget might arrive,” Dombrovskis said.
The vice president assumed that there are now doubts around the assessment of the budget plan that Portugal delivered in mid-October in Brussels, as, given its rejection by the Portuguese parliament, it is necessary to determine “what exactly is there to evaluate”, and pointed out the possibility of Brussels and Lisbon having “some discussions based on unchanged policy scenarios”, the one that is resorted to when, for some reason, a Member State cannot present its budget plan within the established deadlines.
“For this reason, this will require some consultations with the Portuguese authorities to find a concrete way to move forward”, he stressed.
As for the implications of the ‘lead’ of OE2022 and the scenario of dissolution of parliament and call for early elections in the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), especially given the fragility of an outgoing executive, the Executive Vice President of the Commission highlighted that “the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism is an instrument performance-based”, and nothing changes this principle.
“On the part of the Commission, we can be very clear, as is also clear in the regulation, that disbursements are linked to the achievement of goals and concrete goals, and that continues to be the case,” he said.
Valdis Dombrovskis nevertheless relativized the implications of possible elections on the execution of the plan, noting that “Recovery and Resilience Plans must coexist with political developments in each Member State” and noting that “some governmental changes are already taking place. [nos Estados-membros] and others will follow”.
The vice-president was speaking at a press conference after an informal videoconference by EU finance ministers for the approval, precisely, of three more RRPs, from Estonia, Finland and Romania, which he raises to 22 the plans which have already received the ‘green light’ from Ecofin.
Last week, in Strasbourg, the vice-president of the Commission had already responded to the TSF about a possible political crisis in Portugal, which has now been confirmed. “The European Union is a union of 27 democracies, [e] there are always elections in one country or another. There is always one or another complicated situation with the party politics in the different member states”, he affirmed, saying that the Commission “does not interfere” in the internal politics of the countries.
Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni also showed “optimistic” about the situation in Portugal. “Political Stability is generally very positive, but it’s like good weather, it’s not something the Commission can contribute to. Of course, we are happy if there is political stability, normally, because this allows continuity in our programs”, he said.
On Wednesday, parliament generally failed the State Budget for 2022 with the votes against by the PSD, BE, PCP, CDS-PP, PEV, Chega and IL, paving the way for early legislative elections.
The PS was the only party to vote in favor of the budget proposal, which deserved the abstentions of the PAN and the two non-registered deputies, Joacine Katar Moreira and Cristina Rodrigues.
Before the vote, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, had already warned that in the face of an OE2022 lead, he would start “soon, right after the process” of dissolution of parliament and calling for early legislative elections.
Hours later, Marcelo met with the prime minister, António Costa, and the president of parliament, Ferro Rodrigues, at the Palácio de Belém, in Lisbon.
The anticipated legislatives have to take place in the next 60 days to the dissolution of the parliament and to be marked at the same time, in accordance with article 113 of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic.
To dissolve the Assembly of the Republic, the President has to hear the parliamentary parties, which happens on Saturday, and the Council of State, which meets on Wednesday.
