Five parties voted against Portugal’s 2027 budget. It passed anyway
The 2027 State Budget bill cleared its first reading on 28 October with PSD and CDS-PP in favour, PS, PAN and JPP abstaining, and Chega, IL, Livre, PCP and BE against. Committee stage runs 18 to 23 November and the final vote is on the 24th.
Portugal’s 2027 State Budget has cleared its first parliamentary hurdle. On Wednesday afternoon, 28 October, bill 110/XVII/2 was approved in principle with votes in favour from the governing PSD and CDS-PP. The Socialists (PS), PAN and JPP abstained. Chega, the Liberal Initiative, Livre, the Communists and the Left Bloc all voted no.
Nobody was holding their breath. Once the PS’s 58 MPs stepped aside, the AD’s 91 seats were enough on their own, as the arithmetic showed before the debate began. Even with all five opposing parties together, the no side tops out at 79.
The closing speeches
Presidency minister António Leitão Amaro wrapped up for the government, describing a “narrow road” and asking every party to play by the same rule in the next phase. For the PSD, Hugo Soares went after a Socialist proposal on extra pay for the security forces. Livre’s Jorge Pinto warned that political stability cannot be bought at the expense of people’s lives.
PS leader José Luís Carneiro kept the abstention despite his disagreements with the government on housing. PAN also abstained, but said it would not hesitate to vote against at the final reading if ministers refuse to move.
Housing everywhere
Two days of debate kept circling back to the cost of a roof. On the first, several hundred protesters gathered outside parliament, following the housing marches in Lisbon and Porto. Prime Minister Luís Montenegro answered that household income has risen by about five billion euros in two and a half years.
Finance minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento says the budget raises no taxes. The PS points to the carbon tax, which goes up by two cents a litre in 2027. Housing minister Miguel Pinto Luz spoke of more than 10 billion euros for public housing.
What happens next
The bill now goes line by line through committee, where parties table amendments, from 18 to 23 November. The final overall vote is set for 24 November, according to parliament’s own timetable for the budget. Livre has already said it will propose, among other things, a cut in the standard VAT rate from 23% to 21% and a national public-transport pass.
Illustration: Tugadaily, from the Assembleia da República vote
