"None of them stops the increase in rents and none of them even takes a cent from the main beneficiaries of the current situation, which is the banking and real estate funds," said the communist secretary-general.

Paulo Raimundo, who was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a visit to the Hércules Laboratory at the University of Évora, stressed that, of the 30 measures presented to the opposition parties, "not one responds to these two fundamental questions".

"The banks will present profits, once again, record in the first quarter of this year and there is not a single cent that is required from the banks and real estate funds to contribute to the resolution of the housing problem," he stressed.

In contrast, the PCP leader considered that the Government is proposing these 30 measures for housing "in accordance with the interests of the banks and real estate funds".

"The Government is not trying to solve the problem", but rather "to add problem to problem", he stressed.

Noting that "the starting points" of the PCP's proposals and those of the Government "are very different and completely different", Paulo Raimundo acknowledged that it will be difficult to find consensus on this matter.

"I do not see that there is a possibility of conciliation from these two different realities," he added.

Regarding the visit to the Hércules Laboratory, the communist secretary-general argued that the country has to change the course of scientific and technological research in the country so that there is job stability for professionals in this area.

"We can have, as is the case in concrete and thankfully, laboratories in terms of equipment that are highly well-equipped, but if those who have to use them have a reality of precariousness, it becomes lame," he warned.

The Government met this morning with all parties with parliamentary representation with a view to including their proposals in the housing program "Building Portugal".

This program, announced last Friday, provides, among other measures, the creation of a public guarantee for young people to buy their first home, the reformulation of the Porta 65 program and the revocation of the Extraordinary Contribution on Local Accommodation (CEAL) and the expiration of the license and transmissibility. "Building Portugal" also seeks to "restore flexibility and confidence to those who rent and to landlords".

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