The answer was what was expected. “I can say the following: it will not be my fault that Chega comes to power in our country.” But most importantly is the question that gave rise to it: would the PS allow a PSD minority government to be made viable to prevent André Ventura’s party from coming to power?
José Luís Carneiro, candidate for the leadership of the PS, relented and declared that it will not be up to him that André Ventura’s party “will come to power”, which, under these circumstances, raises the possibility of a government led by the PS will not rule out. the PSD. He did that yesterday, interviewed on TVI.
The reaction – which admits moderation on the part of the PS in the face of the non-existent PSD in the party in recent years – has all the makings of being one of the themes in the internal campaign for the party leadership. The current Minister of the Interior (MAI) presented himself on Saturday as a candidate to succeed António Costa and today it is the turn of Pedro Nuno Santos, deputy and former Minister of Infrastructure, to do the same.
“It is very important to answer the question that the Portuguese are asking today: how can we, in such a demanding international context, with two wars, one in Europe and the other in the Middle East, launch a candidacy with the assumption of an alliance on the left?, as far as the position of the parties to the left of the PS is known regarding our duties towards the Atlantic Alliance and the EU?”
Carneiro took advantage of the interview to establish the lines of demarcation vis-à-vis Pedro Nuno: following the logical sequence of the PS’s centrist inflection, he argued that the party should distance itself from the idea of preferential left-wing currents, an idea that was dear to his opponent, notoriously the device’s greatest enthusiast.
For MAI – which today will put aside the uniform of the candidate to take on that of a minister with an agenda in Coruche and Faro – “it is very important to answer the question that the Portuguese are asking today: how, in such a demanding international context With two wars, one in Europe and the other in the Middle East, we can start a candidacy with the assumption of an alliance on the left, since the position of the parties to the left of the PS in relation to our duties with the PS Alliance is known Atlantic and the EU?”
Therefore, he said, his candidacy is aimed at those who see themselves as a PS equidistant between right and left. “This candidacy represents an autonomy that the PS cannot lose. It is this autonomy that allows the PS not only to enter into a dialogue with the centre-right, but also with the left.”
“The Time of the Moderates”
José Luís Carneiro, on the other hand, tried to be preemptive in light of the speech that Pedro Nuno Santos will rehearse on the demarcation in light of the current state of costism. As he said, the former Infrastructure Minister will “represent part of the legacy” of the current Socialist government – and even voted in favor of OE2024.
“The time has come for moderates. It’s not just in the PS, it’s in the country. Portugal needs a moderate, responsible and patriotic PS, and it needs a PSD. […] also moderate and reformist.”
Yesterday, a group of 30 socialists more aligned with the right wing of the PS met for lunch in Cantanhede.
The group’s most prominent leader, Álvaro Beleza, former member of António José Seguro’s team that led the PS (2011-2014) and current president of Sedes, said it is now about fighting for a “moderate” PS. “The time has come for moderates. It’s not just in the PS, it’s in the country. Portugal needs a moderate, responsible and patriotic PS, and it needs a PSD. […] also moderate and reform-minded,” he emphasized.
For now, Beleza does not say who supports and praises the two candidates: Carneiro “is an excellent minister, a great politician, he was a great President of the House, he is a serious, intelligent and prepared man” and Pedro Nuno Santos “also He is a young man of great talent, charismatic, courageous”.
Source: DN
