The habit is repeated in the two largest parties. It’s the government and the “party expenses with employees” go down. They are opposed and those expenses are increasing. “Exchange” marks the periods of judgment. Those in the opposition have more expenditures with employees than the other side of the government. Every legislative session they change places. A meaningless phenomenon in municipal sessions.
Outside of this governance arc, the PCP is, among all things, the party that bears the most “employee expenses”. And despite declining in the past decade — it spent more than 4.1 million in 2011, while the value is today at 2.6 million — it tops that ranking, year after year.
In the case of the PSD, in the past decade, the phenomenon of “habit” became famous after the government of Passos Coelho: expenditures for employees, and for party officials, have grown visibly from the moment the government ceased to exist. The largest rise occurred between 2015 [ano em que a geringonça forma “governo”] and 2016. Personnel expenses increased from 2.4 million euros to 2.6 million. As of 2018, it remained at about 2.3 million.
With Roi Rio entering the leadership of the SPD in 2018, and with the promise of “financial control” – commitments dropped from more than 10 million euros to about six – part of the “tradition” was broken. In this period, the PSD reached the lowest values in the last decade, in personnel expenditures, in the range of 2 million, but nevertheless, the values are always higher than PS.
In the CDS, the ruling partner of the PSD came at the time of the troika, the largest decline at that time, under the leadership of Paulo Portas, between 2011 and 2012: from 800,000 to 700,000 euros. In the following years, the amount spent on employees was very similar, in the order of 660 thousand euros.
As of 2015, coinciding with the departure of the government, expenditures for centrists with employees increased by a level, exceeding the €800,000 threshold, which remained despite some fluctuations until 2018, to reach €480,000 in 2021.
During the years of leadership of Paulo Portas and Asuncao Christas, the values were very similar. The big difference appears in 2020 with the arrival of Francisco Rodríguez dos Santos.
In PS, shortly after José Socrates lost the 2011 legislative election to Pedro Passos Coelho, personnel expenditures under the then-Secretary-General, Antonio José Seguro, as well as with Antonio Costa, rose again until 2014: they remained, annually, above 2.4 million euros.
From the following year, with the legislation, the inversion appears. The Socialist Party forms a government, with parliamentary support from the Communist Party of Pakistan and the Business Committee, and enters into a cycle of low expenditures with party officials. It decreased by 2.4 million in 2014 to 2.2 million in 2015 and to 1.9 million in 2016. Last year, the figure was 1.84 million euros.
How much does each party spend?
PCP which leads remotely in annual personnel expenditures – there were 2.6 million in 2021 – followed by PSD with 2 million, PS with 1.8 million and a far cry from €583,000 from BE, 480 thousand from CDS, from roughly 260 from PAN, And about 160 thousand from the liberal initiative, another 100 thousand from Chega and 71 thousand euros from Livre.
In ten years, PCP has spent more than 37 million euros on staff; 24 million PSD. 23.5 million PS; o 7.5 million CDS; BE 4.8 million and PAN 1 million euros.
The largest decrease in PCP in the past 10 years was recorded in three periods: between 2011 and 2012 – it increased from 4.1 to 3.5 million; between 2018 and 2019 – increased from 3.6 to 3.2 million; And between 2020 and 2021 – it went from 3.2 to 2.6 million.
In the remaining parties, with the exception of the CDS, which cut in half and left parliament, the differences between spending between 2011 and 2021 were not as sharp as in the PCP. In the socialists, the difference is less than 500 thousand euros, the PSD spent more than 2500 euros, BE needed more than 180,000 euros almost, and the National Bank more than 250 thousand euros.
In the most recent parties, the largest investment in personnel expenditures was found in the Liberal and Free Initiative, which more than doubled spending between 2020 and 2021. The party led by João Cutreme de Figueiredo rose from 70,000 euros to 156,000 euros. In the case of Roy Tavares’ party, the value increased from about 31 thousand euros to nearly 72 thousand euros.
Chega reduced these expenses by about 8,000 euros – from about 113,000 to 104,000 euros.
Who has more employees?
In 2021, spending on 532 employees [conceito abrangente que pode ir do líder do partido ao motorista] Of the eight parties with parliamentary representation it exceeded 8 million euros – the lowest figure in the last decade. The highest level was recorded in 2011 (9.7 million), the second highest in 2016 (9.3 million) and the third in 2018 (9.2 million). In total, from 2011 to 2021, 98.6 million euros were spent.
Just as it is the party that spends more on the staff, the People’s Congress party is also the political force that has the most staff. “According to the political decision of the 21st Congress of the People’s Congress (November 2020), the number of party employees was more than 300 (including active retirees, whose number has increased), according to party information sent to DN.
The PS, which recorded “a total increase of 4 employees compared to 2020, in the group of party structures”, has a total of 110 employees, but only 76 are currently recruited to socialist structures: there are 34 who are “authorized to offer positions in other entities, for by request or waiver.
In other words, they are “in the various offices of members of the government and in the parliamentary groups of the Assembly of the Republic and the regional councils”, as explained by the office of the Assistant Secretary-General of the Socialist Party of DN.
Of the 76 in positions in the “structure”, 37 are in the party headquarters, 25 are in the unions on the mainland, eight are in PS Açores, four are in PS Madeira, and two are in the Juventude Socialista.
Most Socialist officials (33) are between 46 and 55 years old and have a high school education (27) or a university degree (20).
“The difference with respect to 2020 resulted from the departure of four employees, in one case due to dismissal on their own initiative, the other due to the expiration of the contract and in one case due to retirement, as well as from leaving to exercise functions in public. Entity; in the entry of seven new employees, they were appointed to fill Existing vacancies; and the return of an employee from the national headquarters that was requested to the Lisbon City Council. After the personnel reorganization process in recent years, the human resources structure is more stable, with a better adjustment of the number of employees with the real needs of operating the structures”, explains the PS accounts report.
The PSD, which in 2018 had 81 “employees”, currently has 70 employees and recorded only one “movement” between 2020 and 2021: pre-negotiated retirement. In this year’s scheduled accounts, still under the management of Rui Rio and Jose Silvano, the party projected 1.8 million “for personnel expenses”.
Most of the employees (31) are between 45 and 60 years old. With higher education there are 33 and 28 with secondary education. Seven of them have basic education, one a master’s degree and one a doctorate.
The Business Code, which highlights the “always indispensable contribution” of militants to the “activity” of the party, states that “at the moment there are 23 employees appointed”, but “only at the end of the year will it be possible to view the annual salary costs ” . In 2021, in the calculations submitted to the Constitutional Court, the value of “personnel expenses” amounted to almost 584 thousand euros. This year, that value should be lower given the January 30 electoral loss in the legislature (going from 19 to five deputies), which has a direct impact on public support for political party funding.
Legal resolutions, created to stem questionable and illegal funding, allow parties in every electoral act to gain public support that eases campaign costs. And this year the amount was higher because the index of social support (IAS) rose from 438.81 to 443.2 euros. In other words, there are 7,091 200 euros to distribute – 70,240 euros more than before. These are the annual values, which give each vote approximately €13 for the entire legislature. To receive the subsidy, it is necessary to submit lists of 118 valid candidates and to elect at least one deputy or to obtain 50,000 votes.
In a PAN, scheduled accounts are simple. “The amount we have allocated to human resources in 2022 is about 230 thousand euros [inferior ao gasto em 2021] It has 8 employees,” the party noted.
The liberal initiative, which in the last legislative elections moved from an elected deputy to eight, and which in 2021 spent 156,000 euros on employees, “at the moment has seven employees at an annual cost of 292,000 euros.”
Livre, which now has three employees – until last month only one – offers an annual cost of 70,000 euros: a value similar to that handed over to the Constitutional Court for 2021 accounts. “53 thousand euros / year” is the value of “the 53,000 euros/year,” the party told DN. The Illiquid Rule of Liberty Staff.
CDS has eight employees, who will have five as of September, and it was 11 in 2021. The party expects the monthly salary account to be €11,000. As for Chega, it had not responded to DN until the time this edition was closed.
Take into account the values of “employee expenses” [dinheiro que não corresponde apenas ao salário] Declared in the Constitutional Court in 2021, PAN at 2,670 euros is the party with the highest value per “collaborator”, followed by PSD with 2,417 euros, BE at 2,115, Livre with 1,955 euros, IL with 1858, PS with 1,399 euros and PCP at €734.
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