Luís Montenegro today took part in a dinner organized by PSD-Lisbon on the occasion of the two years of governance of the city by the Novos Tempos Coalition, led by Carlos Moedas, shortly after the announcement to the country by the Prime Minister, António Costa, who asked to resign from his position on Tuesday, to which he did not directly refer.
In his intervention, the PSD leader reiterated that the party will put to the vote its proposal for full recovery of the lost time in the career of teachers and left a challenge to the candidates for PS leadership – provisional deputy Pedro Nuno Santos, who has already spoken out in favor of this total recovery, and Minister José Luís Carneiro.
“We will present in the budget our proposal for the full restoration of service of teachers. Let’s see whether what comes here is real or not,” he appealed, saying it will be “a cotton test.”
In the area of fighting corruption and “demanding transparency in public life”, Montenegro stressed that the proposals announced today are not “a response to what is happening”, in an allusion to the suspicions expressed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office about various government officials. and cabinet members of the executive branch.
The PSD leader stressed that the PSD leadership has been thinking “for a long time” about the need to regulate lobbying in Portugal, and promised that they will move forward with a project, as well as a new attempt to criminalize lobbying feed. illegal enrichment, which was stopped in the past by the Constitutional Court.
Regarding the current political situation, Montenegro believed that “there are very profound reasons for discouragement and disbelief” and that the events of the past week “are not a reason for anyone to be proud”.
“Governing the people, with arrogance, with arrogance, with use and abuse of power, taking over the government, disrespecting opponents and disrespecting inspection accounts – these governments always end badly,” he said.
However, Montenegro vowed to campaign “for the positive” and focused its speech on early parliamentary elections on March 10.
“We are primarily focused on the future, not on justifying the past – there are others who bear this responsibility. We will not stop pointing out strategic mistakes of recent years, but what we want is to point out the light, the hope.” , he said.
In his intervention, which lasted less than half an hour, Montenegro left a new electoral commitment aimed at pensioners, again accusing the PS of being prepared to make one billion euros in cuts to pensioners last year but having withdrawn under pressure from the PSD.
‘I warn you now: there is no point in coming with ghosts. With us, we will have pensions updated in accordance with what is stated in the law, and an extraordinary recovery for those who have a pension lower than the national minimum wage. need to recover more than the others,” he said.
Portugal will hold snap parliamentary elections on March 10, 2024, scheduled by the president of the republic, following the Prime Minister’s resignation on Tuesday.
António Costa is the target of an investigation by the Public Prosecution Service at the Supreme Court, after suspects in a case linked to matters involving lithium, green hydrogen and a data center in Sines invoked his name as having intervened to unblock proceedings.
At a dinner for about a thousand people – attended by former ministers Nuno Morais Sarmento, José Luís Arnaut and Mira Amaral – Montenegro pointed to Carlos Moedas’ victory in Lisbon two years ago as a demonstration that ‘in democracy every citizen a voice.”
“This new majority that emerged from the last local authorities, these ‘New Times’ that Lisbon is experiencing, are times that we want to extend to the whole country. How good would it be if the PSD had more Carlos Moedas, for the country to have more Carlos Moedas,” he said.
Earlier, Lisbon’s mayor recalled his victory two years ago as “the night the PSD liberated Lisbon from socialism” and left a message of “great hope” for the next four months.
“Are we ready or not yet? Let’s do it, let’s win the country with Luís Montenegro,” he exclaimed, rediscovering one of the motivating phrases of his municipal campaign.
Source: DN
