"For us, there are no term-limited governments. We negotiate with the government that is in office and demand that it do as much as possible and as quickly as possible", the leader of the employers' confederation tells Lusa in an interview.

João Vieira Lopes reinforces that the CCP does not work based on "scenarios" but on proposals that defend the interests of companies, emphasising that the confederation will not remain idle in the face of a minority government.

"We are not interested in whether the government lasts a long time or a short time, whether it is term-limited or not. We want measures for companies", he reiterates.

The president of the CCP says that he met for the first time with the new Minister of Economy, Pedro Reis, last week, and that the meeting was positive, having left "with the idea" that the government, "regardless of the political framework", intends to put into practice a set of measures to support companies that are in the Government Programme.

For Vieira Lopes, it is essential that the executive move forward with lower taxes for companies, namely the reduction in IRC provided for in the Government Programme, because it is a heavy tax since, in addition to the rates, it has a series of "surcharges", he says, referring to state and municipal surcharges and autonomous taxes.

"The structure of IRC should be a structure focused on [...] taxing profits that are distributed and not profits that are invested", he says, noting that this is a "structural issue for economic growth" without which it is not possible to increase wages.

Still in the fiscal area, Vieira Lopes advocates "a radical incentive for the capitalisation of companies", indicating that "it has to be cheaper for entrepreneurs to put up their own money" and resort less to banks.

According to him, the Minister of Economy "showed himself open to discussing these issues" and, in the coming days, working meetings will be held "in technical and political terms" to address the issues.

The Government Programme of the Democratic Alliance (AD) provides for a reduction in IRC rates, with a gradual reduction of two percentage points per year, aimed at ensuring the effective taxation of profits at a rate of 15%, as well as the gradual elimination of the progressiveness of the state surcharge and municipal surcharge on IRC, ensuring in the case of the latter compensation through the State Budget for the loss of revenue to municipalities.

The executive also proposes to reduce by 20% the autonomous taxes on company vehicles in IRC, a measure that was included in the PS's electoral programme.

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