(Bloomberg) — Portugal’s far-right Chega party, the third-largest political force in parliament, plans to vote against the 2025 budget plan proposed by the country’s minority government.
Most read from Bloomberg
“It is not our budget, we do not see ourselves in it,” Chega leader Andre Ventura said at a televised news conference. “Chega will vote against the 2025 budget.”
The budget, which will be submitted to a first vote in parliament at the end of October, is a major test for the minority government of Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, who took office in April after the narrow election victory of his centre-right AD coalition in the House of Representatives. Socialists.
Also read: Portugal aims for a budget surplus of 0.3% in 2025 and sees faster growth
Now that Chega has decided to reject the plan, Montenegro will need the Socialists to abstain or vote in favor before the budget is approved. Socialist leader Pedro Nuno Santos said earlier this month that his party still needs to review the budget before deciding how to vote on it.
Both the Prime Minister and the Socialist leader have said they do not want early elections. Portugal has held two early elections in three years, in January 2022 and March this year.
Most read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2024 BloombergLP
