Parliament to vote on final version of State Budget 2022 on May 27

The draft State Budget of 2022 will be debated in the first reading on April 28 and 29, in a process that will culminate in the final overall vote on 27 May, decided the parliamentary leaders’ conference on Wednesday.

These dates were given by the spokeswoman for the leaders’ conference, socialist Maria da Luz Rosinha, in Parliament in Lisbon.

According to the parliamentary calendar to which Lusa had access – and which was not disclosed by the spokeswoman for the leaders’ conference – the two usual hearings prior to the first reading will be held on April 26 with Finance Minister Fernando Medina, and on the 27th with the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho.

The first reading debate will take place on April 28 in the afternoon and on the whole day on April 29, culminating with the first reading vote on the document.

The consideration in committee stage begins on May 2, with the hearings of various ministers and other entities, and the deadline for submission of proposals for amendment is May 13 at 6h00 pm.

The discussion of the document in the plenary session will start onMay 23 and continue throughout the week – with debate in the morning and votes in the afternoon, as usual.

The final overall vote was scheduled for May 27, the day before the direct elections of the PSD party, in which the successor of the current leader, Rui Rio, will be chosen.

The calendar agreed today in the leaders’ conference also provides that the final draft of the document is fixed on June 15. Only after that can the proposal be sent for promulgation by the President of Portugal.

The draft State Budget for 2022 (OE2022) was delivered today by the Government in Parliament, after it was rejected in October, which led to the holding of legislative elections.

After the proposal was approved on Tuesday in the Cabinet, the Minister of Finance, Fernando Medina, today delivered to parliament the first Budget signed by him, but still designed by his predecessor, João Leão.

The general lines of the proposal were presented on Monday to the parties with parliamentary representation (PS, PSD, Chega, Liberal Initiative, Left Bloc and PCP) and to the sole deputies of PAN and Livre by the ministers of finance, Fernando Medina, and deputy and parliamentary affairs, Ana Catarina Mendes.

According to the parties, the proposal will include a downward revision of the gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 5%, forecast in the government’s stability programme, but will maintain the deficit target of 1.9%.

According to the parties, the government will also revise upwards the inflation rate to around 4%.