Chega changed its voting direction and voted in favor of the PS proposal to increase the PSD and GNR patrol allowance, which was thus approved against the will of the majority. PSD and CDS voted against, but IL’s abstention and the vote in favor of the remaining benches resulted in approval. It was the only one of the proposals raised for plenary this Friday whose vote changed in relation to Thursday’s vote in committee. And thus it became the most relevant change so far approved by the opposition against the Government in the votes on the State Budget in the specialty, which take place until Thursday.
The PS had already achieved Thursdayan increase in pensions for ex-combatants and some changes in VAT, but now he has achieved another victory, with Chega’s change of position, in another area in which the socialists are trying to bet on the electorate to which Ventura usually speaks.
With this result, the patrol supplement at GNR will be increased next year, and is expected to rise to 90.03 euros per month in the case of sergeants and to 84.13 euros per month in the case of guards. For 2027, the proposal now approved foresees that the monthly amount will rise to 115.03 euros for sergeants and 109.13 euros for guards, while from 2028 the supplement “is updated annually by the consumer price index”.
The initiative also provides for an update of the patrol supplement on PSP in 2026, establishing that it increases to 84.13 euros in the case of agents and to 90.03 euros in the case of managers. In 2027, it increases to 109.13 euros in the case of PSP agents and to 115.03 euros for bosses, while from 2028 onwards, and as with the GNR, the supplement is updated annually using the inflation value as a reference.
Supplements for the police forces had stirred the beginning of this Friday’s debate, with socialist deputy Miguel Costa Matos asking: “O What do they say to the police and guards? To those who promised solutions? (…) UA year and a half later they haven’t given anything to the police and guards and when the PS proposes updating the patrol allowance, what do the parties do? The proposal fails. How is it possible?”
João Almeida, from the CDS, responded that the socialist deputy’s speech was “shameless and clueless”. “The PS governed for 8 years in a row. You guys didn’t do any of that. They made police and guards have to take to the streets to defend their rights. They didn’t do anything to dignify them”, he accused. And he guaranteed: “Not everything is done, because we can’t resolve this eight-year lack of respect, but we will continue to discuss and negotiate. We know what it’s like to find a bankrupt country and leave it with unpaid bills.”
Lead in pensions confirmed
If in terms of increases for police officers, Chega changed its position and ended up approving the PS proposal, the same did not happen in pensions and cross-voting ended up dictating the confirmation of the lead of the proposals for permanent increases, as had been voted on on Thursday.
With the Minister of Finance watching, only the AD’s proposal for an extraordinary pension supplement in 2026 was approved in plenary votes. This payment depends on there being a budget margin, as happened this year. In addition to the votes from PSD and CDS, the proposal from the Government benches had votes in favor of Chega and PAN; PS, Livre, PCP and Bloco abstained.
Chega’s proposal for an increase of 1.5 percentage points was rejected, with the PSD, CDS and IL voting against and the PS abstaining. The proposals from PCP, Livre and Bloco to increase pensions in 2026 were also rejected.
The debate on pensions stirred the debate in Parliament, with PS and PSD exchanging pennants about who cut more and who gave more to pensioners in the last years of government in Portugal. In the middle, Chega and IL entered the scene to needle the PS.
Marina Gonçalves, from the PS, began by accusing the PSD of having “the ability to come hereui to talk about pensions”, the same party that “wanted to cut 600 million euros” and that “devalued 6 PS pension increases in the 8 years of government.” And he concludes: “stop the demagoguery and work”.
Hugo Soares, from the PSD, recalled the PS’s history in matters of pensions, going back in time: “Your pension assets begin with José Sócrates. The person who led the country to bankruptcy and the prime minister to freeze pensions was Sócrates“. On the other hand, he continued, “If there is any heritage that this parliamentary group has, it is that we created the thirteenth and fourteenth month for pensioners”.
Marina Gonçalves returned to charge, benefiting from a grant of time from JPP. “In the opposition, we structurally increased pensions with the PSD voting against, we guaranteed that the 600 million cut they wanted would not pass”. Hugo Soares once again said what the PS didn’t do 14 years ago and I’m explaining to him what it did in the last 9, 6, 4, 3 years and even now. We are here in difficult times and when there are conditions to increase pensions”, he concludes.
The exchange of words involved Chega and IL, who recalled Sócrates and accused the PS of demagoguery with the issue of pensions.
The Secretary of State for Social Security, Susana Filipa Lima, concluded the issue of pensions, in the first phase of the debate, returning to argue with the balance of public accounts and clarifying that, next year, contrary to what has been said by the opposition, there will be a permanent increase in pensions, to which a bonus will be added depending on the country’s macroeconomic conditions.
“QAnyone listening to the interventions of some deputies would think that in the budget for 2026 there would be a zero increase in permanent income for pensions. But the truth is that the permanent increase in pensioners’ income is 940 million euros. This means that there will be a permanent increase in pensioners’ income, a greater increase for those with lower pensions, which are the majority of pensioners”, he stated.
And he attacks the PCP’s proposal, which wanted a 5% increase, with a minimum value of 75 euros. “EThis increase means an increase in expenditure of 3.27 billion euros for Social Security pensioners and 780 million for Caixa Geral de Aposentações pensioners. Altogether we are talking about an expenditure of 4 billion euros, 3 billion euros more than what is foreseen in the government program. An automatic deficit”, he argues.
Alfredo Maia, from the PCP, responded that this was an option made by the Government, which he accused of being “on the side of the large economic groups”. Pedro Frazão, from Chega, also asked the Government “not to look at the graphs, but to look at the souls of the Portuguese”, but Chega ended up not joining the PS’s proposal, which intended to turn the eventual bonus into a permanent increase. Just as the PS did not approve Chega’s proposal, which led blocker Mariana Mortágua to conclude that the Government has “two crutches” in this Budget.