“I agree with what the president has done. I think he has taken the most logical stepand if, for example, in Madeira, where the regional government is PSD, or the Azores, where the regional government is PS [Socialist Party], managed to negotiate between teachers and the government, here in mainland Portugal, the government also has an obligation to achieve it, counting all the time, but always respecting the sustainability of public finances,” said Rio at a press conference in Porto.

The president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, on Wednesday vetoed a government law that only provides for the partial recovery of the teachers’ service time.

In a note published on the Presidency’s website, De Sousa justified this decision as the standard included by parties in the state budget for 2019 requires the law to be “subject of a negotiation process.”

Rio acknowledged, however, that the recovery of the service time cannot be done at once, but criticised the government, to whom he asked for negotiation openness.

The government has regretted the veto of De Sousa prevents the partial recovery from being accounted for, starting in January, and promised a “new negotiation process” with the unions.

In the statement, the government also mentioned that the “entry into force of the state budget to 2019 to initiate a new negotiation process with the union structures” of the teachers, who have been demanding for the nine years, four months and two days that the careers were frozen to be accounted for.”