The PSD president has already visited 129 municipalities, nine districts and five countries as part of the “Sentir Portugal” initiative, participating in more than 60 party activities, according to a balance sheet by the Social Democratic leadership.
The “Sentir Portugal” initiative was a commitment made a year ago by Luís Montenegro at the 40th Congress of the PSD to spend one week a month in the various districts of the country, and in which he also included passages through the Portuguese diaspora , as already happened in March in several European countries.
The president of the PSD has defended that one of the objectives of these trips is “to reconcile the party with the Portuguese”, and a document prepared by the PSD “emphasizes the closeness to the country and to the party as a brand image of this first year”.
According to this balance sheet of the party, Luís Montenegro took part in more than 60 party initiatives, with the remaining PSD political leadership present in more than 100, after resuming regular meetings with the districts and holding five National Councils, the party’s highest body between the through conferences.
According to the same document, the Social Democratic leader has already participated in six meetings of the European People’s Party in Brussels, has been to the Autonomous Region of the Azores twice and three times to the Madeira region and has spoken in an audience at the party’s headquarters more than 100 entities.
In terms of meetings with international personalities, the party highlights the bilateral meeting with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Lisbon meetings with the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, and the leader of the Spanish People’s Party . Party, Alberto Núñez Beans.
Luís Montenegro’s leadership maintained, albeit in an updated form, the National Strategic Council “inherited” from Rui Rio – who is working on the PSD’s future electoral program – and launched the Movimento Acreditar, a political platform for discussion with civil society civil society , which has held meetings throughout the national territory, including during the “Feel Portugal” weeks, on topics such as demography, territorial cohesion, culture or the sea.
Among the main measures already presented by the PSD in the past year, the party points to the social emergency program proposed in August last year – before the executive program – and measures under the state budget for 2023, such as the reduction of IRS to the sixth level and a single rate of 15% for young people, as well as a gradual reduction of IRC.
The PSD also presented a ‘package’ in parliament for housing, a program to attract, welcome and integrate immigrants, changes to the status of informal carers and support measures for the elderly.
In the context of the constitutional revision, the conclusion of which will be passed on to the next legislature, the PSD highlights proposals such as the creation of the Territorial and Generational Cohesion Council, the modification of electoral circles to combine proportionality with the territorial dimension, voting at age 16 or increasing the powers of the President of the Republic in the appointment of judicial institutions and regulators.
In the first phase of the work, none of these proposals were accepted by the PS, essential to ensure eventual approval by two-thirds.
The next areas in which the party will present alternative proposals are health, as early as next week, and taxation, following successive calls from Montenegro for the government to cut both the IRS – which it sees as a priority – and the IRC.
Source: DN
