The Socialist Party leader also mentioned that he will insist on a permanent increase in the lowest pensions.

"The Prime Minister has one year to show what he's worth (...) and that's what the Socialist Party wanted to tell him with the abstention," José Luís Carneiro told reporters upon arriving for a session at the Socialist Party's FAUL to discuss the 2026 State Budget (OE2026).

According to the PS's secretary-general, "abstention, as a contribution to the country's political stability, has a one-year validity period" because the Government "will now have to demonstrate" whether it "is capable of responding to the urgent needs facing the country." When asked by journalists what the Socialist Party will do after Prime Minister Luís Montenegro rejected the Socialist Party's proposal to permanently increase the lowest pensions during the October 27th parliamentary debate, Carneiro said the Socialists will insist on this measure in the 2026 State Budget.

"We will present the proposals seeking to guarantee the assumptions I mentioned in Parliament: on the one hand, ensuring the stability of public accounts, ensuring the commitment to maintaining the sustainability of the Social Security financial structure, and ensuring that there is no increase in the State's structural net expenditure," he said.

According to the Social Security leader, this will be done through a "transfer from the State Budget to guarantee this increase," should there be, as the Social Security leader is convinced will happen, "an increase in the Social Security balance beyond what is anticipated."

Carneiro also said that the Socialist Party's proposal will also stipulate that, "in the event of a crisis from the government's perspective," a corporate income tax point will be used to "guarantee, for 2027, the €400 million that will support the increase in these pensions."

"So, this is the very responsible proposal that the Socialist Party will make, as will others, in light of the proposals I presented," he added.