Former finance minister Centeno warns of budget shortfall and criticises government fear tactics

Mário Centeno, who previously served as finance minister, criticised Prime Minister Luís Montenegro for using fear-based language in discussing Portugal’s fiscal outlook. Centeno said the government has no genuine budgetary cushion and that the half-percent surplus cited for the first half of the year is distorted by the inclusion of Social Security accounts. He warned that, without a revised EU budget framework, the country will confront a deep structural deficit that undermines any claimed fiscal leeway.

Centeno also dismissed recent tax cuts and one-off pension bonuses as inadequate responses to rising living costs, and he questioned the logic of a large capital purchase by REN financed through borrowing amid high interest rates. He concluded by cautioning that one outlet debt strategy is risky.