Former CDS-PP leader Paulo Portas defended today that the priority of the non-socialist space should be to build an alternative to succeed Prime Minister António Costa and not look for a successor to the president of the republic.
The former deputy prime minister was a guest speaker at the PSD Summer University conference dinner on Tuesday and despite “warning” he would speak only about the US presidential election in the near future, he left an opinion to the centre-right. in Portugal.
When asked by one of about a hundred “students” about the profile and characteristics that the next president of the republic should have, Portas answered indirectly.
“It seems to me that for the non-socialist space, the priority is to build an alternative to succeed Dr. António Costa, and not to find a successor to Professor Rebelo de Sousa. But thanks for the question,” he replied, receiving much applause from the living room.
At the start of his lengthy opening speech – an hour instead of the expected half hour – the television commentator had already left a warning about the issue making political headlines after former PSD leader Luís Marques Mendes admitted on Sunday that he may be a candidate for Belém if this “turns out to be useful to the country”.
“When I came here I read that today would be my return. My return is Sunday at Global [programa de comentário televisivo na TVI]where I will talk about the presidential election, but also about the election that will take place in the United States in 2024,” he joked.
This was the only national news item discussed very briefly by Paulo Portas during the more than two hours—during several coffees—that the conference lasted, followed by the question-and-answer period devoted entirely to foreign policy.
The television commentator and non-executive director of Mota-Engil said he wanted to give participants – with an average age of 21 – a global vision of the world they will live in, repeatedly asking them to “be careful”, warning of the growing polarization in the world between China and the United States, the political correctness that ‘thinks it can rewrite history’ or the increasing influence of social networks in determining political priorities and the so-called culture of conflict.
“The basis of democracy is commitment, verbal conflict is not close to physical conflict. Who wins knows how to win, who loses knows how to lose, it is not a permanent insult,” he defended.
On the growing influence of the internet in the formation of political opinions, Portas rejected that the solution could be through censorship, but defended the obligation for those who open an account on a social network to identify themselves on the platforms – creating false profiles avoided — and questioned whether “some degree of criminal responsibility” should exist for platforms when they allow incitement to commit crimes.
“People are trained in a way of looking at the world where they don’t want to know the facts anymore, they just want to read, hear and see things that confirm their pre-existing prejudices. Left and right, beware of the idea that there is no difference between truth and lies,” he shouted.
The former leader of the CDS-PP for 16 years also left a request for young people to resist the fatigue of the war in Ukraine, admitting that this is “an insult to the intelligence services” from day one.
“Putin’s weapon is your fatigue, it is the fatigue of the West. If you have no other reasons, think that if Putin gains the upper hand in Ukraine, he will not stop in Ukraine. The next step will be within the borders of the European Union and NATO. “It is the most direct reason for Europe to do what it can so that Russia does not triumph in Ukraine,” he defended.
At the end of his first PSD Summer University participation, Portas said he “really enjoyed” being there, despite the “unheard of hours” he will arrive in Lisbon, perhaps weakened by the different types of coffee he has had throughout the year. night drunk.
The 19th PSD Summer University, an initiative for the political training of young personnel, has been taking place since Monday in Castelo de Vide (Portalegre) and will have the participation of the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, on Wednesday, closed on Sunday by PSD leader Luís Montenegro.
Source: DN
