In early September, the third edition of the Campus da Liberdade, in Fátima, will feature unavoidable names from the PS, such as the president of the Economic and Social Council, Francisco Assis, and the PSD, including former governor Luís. Marques Mendes or the mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas. The non-partisan event, but not devoid of ideology, as Liberal Initiative (IL) deputy Carlos Guimarães Pinto explained to DN, focuses on the government experience of the guest speakers, with a cast that also includes former CDS deputies Cecília Meireles and António includes. Bob Xavier.
“The Campus da Liberdade program is designed as a mix between a more academic approach, discussing the history of liberalism, the different components of liberalism” such as economics and politics, and a “more practical” perspective. which guests are brought along who have some knowledge of how public affairs are arranged,” emphasizes the liberal deputy.
At the time of the PSD Summer University, an initiative born in 2003, Carlos Guimarães Pinto explains that the major difference between the Social Democratic event and the Liberty Campus, which takes place from September 6 to 10, is the fact that the latter “impartial” but not “non-ideological”. This word does not exist in any vocabulary, but it gives an idea of the nature of this meeting in which 150 young people are enrolled, hoping to learn from their interlocutors experienced in political affairs. “A large part of the Campus is devoted to talking about the principles of liberalism, how they apply to different fields, to health care and to education,” underlines the IL MP, who will try to highlight the programme. “Saturday afternoon is more devoted to listening to people who have already had this kind of government experience, who are closer to the PSD and CDS area, which does not mean that there is any kind of bias on the Campus,” reiterates.
On that day, the young participants will be able to witness interventions by the former PSD finance minister, Maria Luís Albuquerque, who will speak about “what country we can or want to be”. At the end of the afternoon, the president of Caixa Geral de Depósitos, Paulo Macedo, will talk about the “efficiency of public authorities”, but immediately afterwards a round table on the “future” of Portugal will start, with a conversation between Francisco Assis and Luís Marques Mendes. This meeting has yet to be confirmed and must precede the participation of Carlos Moedas in this liberal training forum (in an ideological and impartial sense). Despite liberalism being the argument for this meeting, the only IL deputy who will have an intervention at the university this summer is Carlos Guimarães Pinto himself, who explains to DN that this is due to the fact that the party has no government experience yet has.
The Campus da Liberdade is organized by Instituto + Liberdade, co-founded by André Pinção Lucas, who signed the statement released yesterday with the program of the event.
Source: DN
