Carneiro announces "demanding abstention" from the PS with criticism of the 2026 State Budget

The Socialist Secretary General, José Luís Carneiro, announced a “demanding abstention” in the State Budget for 2026 (OE2026) to “ensure the political stability” of the country , despite criticizing the Government's budget proposal.

The announcement was made after a meeting of the PS National Political Committee, which ended in the early hours of the morning, and which took place after a meeting, on Tuesday, with the PS parliamentary group about the party's position in relation to the OE2026.

According to the PS leader, in these two bodies there was a “general demonstration of support” for his proposal to abstain , which he described as a “demanding abstention” for a Budget “that is not from the PS” and to which he made several criticisms.

On the other hand, the PS leader pointed out "a unanimous opinion" in the party's bodies in recognizing the "very positive results" in the local elections, admitted "different interpretations", but defended that as leader he must "pull the morale of the troops".

Speaking to journalists this morning, in Largo do Rato, after a meeting of around four hours of the PS National Political Commission that served to decide on abstention in the State Budget for 2026 (OE2026) and to analyze the results of Sunday's local elections, José Luís Carneiro stressed that "it is always possible" to have different interpretations because "there are 30 ways of looking at the result of local elections".

However, he stressed that both the PS parliamentary group and the National Political Committee were unanimous regarding "the positive results of the Socialist Party in terms of the entire national context" and also taking into account the fact that the party had won several local elections.

"We had the government's electoral tools and were even the party that had to replace the most mayors—50 mayors, about 20 more than our main competitors," he added. In Carneiro's view, as secretary-general of the Socialist Party , it's his responsibility to "push for merit, results, achievements, and the positive things that happened in these elections."

"Naturally, we would like to have other objectives, but it is clear that the secretary-general's responsibility is to encourage and boost the morale of his party's troops, and that is what the secretary-general does, and with good reason," he said.

Among the arguments is the fact that the Socialist Party secured 1.8 million votes, nine district capitals, and a majority of city councils in the Lisbon metropolitan area. "This shows that the Socialist Party is also competitive among urban voters, and therefore the Socialist Party has reason to be confident as the main political alternative to the AD, and it is from this position that it will assert itself as a national political alternative," he emphasized.

Regarding those who hold different views—his predecessor, Pedro Nuno Santos, issued warnings on Monday in a social media post—Carneiro said he views these positions "quite naturally." "Between the optimists and the pessimists, I've said I'm an optimistic realist," he emphasized.

In Sunday's local elections, the Socialist Party (PS) ceased to be the leading force in local government in Portugal and took over 128 council presidencies, two of which were in coalition, compared to 149 councils in 2021, one of which was in coalition. The Socialists thus lost the leadership of the ANMP to the PSD and once again failed to win Lisbon and Porto.