Marques Mendes says that the minister of the Economy “will not last long” and that “contraption” is closer to the end – the Observer

State councilor Luis Marques Mendes said on Thursday that the current minister of Economy, Manuel Caldeira Cabral, will not continue long in office, being replaced, soon, by someone with the profile "more political". So as I said find that the "contraption" will also not last long, with this OE 2017 to mark "the beginning of the end". About the salaries of directors of Caixa Geral de Depósitos, the commentator criticized also the lack of balance in the values and says that this "undermines the confidence of the people." Marques Mendes spoke at the conference in Portugal on the Exam, which takes place this Thursday in Lisbon.

"The current minister of the Economy will not last very long, at the next conference the minister of Economy, already is not this", said, following the message that has already has said multiple times that the Economy is the weak point of the current Government, which is strong politically.

In its analysis to the proposal of the State Budget for 2017, Marques Mendes argued that the document should be "more upset for the Economy," referring to the fact that the prime minister, António Costa, will be dedicated more to the companies. And it was in that context that he added that Caldeira Cabral will be replaced in the position by someone "more political".

For the former social-democratic leader, also the "contraption" will not last "until the end of the legislature". "Next year is going to be politically very interesting. This budget was the beginning of the end of the contraption, but the end still will take time", launched at the conference held at the Museum of Rail, organised by Exame magazine, in partnership with the Popular Bank.

Marques Mendes argues that the proposal of the OE 2017, "much closer to the PSD than the PCP and the BE", "come to create a bad environment" with the parties of the left, considering that "relations have never been brilliant". The State counsel argued that the Government chose to please Brussels with this budget proposal, after António Costa have noticed that "the first budget was very costly to the image of the Government."

"Now made an option. António Costa never will buy a war with Brussels", he added.

At the same conference, Mendes criticized the fact that there have been no balances in the fixing of the salaries of the Board of Directors of Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), considering that "it is more a knock on the confidence of the people." "Here there was no balance. I think that a public manager should not earn a misery, because the cheap comes out expensive, but at the time that if he lives, in the public sector, to spend for this value helps to undermine confidence," he said.

The new chairman of the Board of Directors of CGD, António Domingues, will win 423 thousand euros per year and the other members the executive will receive 337 thousand euros per year. Marques Mendes argued that the model adopted should be "lower-paid" and after the "awards linked to the performance of the public financial institution.

For the former leader of the social democratic party, these salaries are "more a shot in the credibility and trust of the people and of the institutions".

The minister of Finance, Mário Centeno, explained in Parliament that "the remuneration policy of the administrators of the Box corresponds to the median in the sector in Portugal", a metric that, he said, does not influence the market "or in the sense of the increase in neither of [these wages] being out of the market".

Mário Centeno ensured that "the application of the previous rule in the determination of the remuneration of these same members [it means that] the total cost of salaries would be higher", compared to what is now followed.