Pedro Nuno Santos stated on Wednesday that if elected general secretary of the PS, he will invite António Costa to participate in the election campaign for the parliamentary elections, as the current prime minister leaves a legacy that benefits his party.
This position was defended by the candidate for the leadership of the PS in the direct internal elections on Friday and Saturday after a meeting with representatives of the Tendência Sindical Socialista, which took place at the party’s national headquarters in Lisbon.
In an interview with TVI last Monday, António Costa emphasized that he has been a PS activist since he was 14 and that he is “available to carry out the campaign that the future socialist leader believes he should carry out.” .
Asked whether he plans to invite António Costa to the future election campaign if he is elected general secretary of the PS, the former Minister of Infrastructure and Housing replied: “Let there be no doubt about that.”
“Socialists are very proud of António Costa and the results achieved by the PS governments led by him. Naturally, we hope to be able to count on him in the parliamentary elections,” he replied.
Asked whether António Costa’s presence benefits or harms as a result of the judicial investigation in which he is involved and which led to his resignation as Prime Minister on November 7, Pedro Nuno Santos claimed that the leader of the executive “leaves a legacy which is very important for the government”. country.”
“Now we obviously benefit from this,” he concluded.
In terms of the government’s post-election insights, Pedro Nuno Santos argued that it is important that “the PS has a good election result” in the early parliamentary elections on March 10.
“A government solution with stability implies a PS with strength and that is what we are focused on. Now I think it is not correct to speculate about scenarios after March 10, as they could be very different. That’s why I won’t do that. We anticipate different scenarios. After the elections, we will then try to build the majority that best guarantees compliance with the PS election manifesto,” he explained.
Asked about the criteria he will use in choosing candidates for deputies to the PS, if elected general secretary, especially with regard to the one-third share that belongs to the party leader, Pedro Nuno Santos said that the criteria and profile of the PS candidates for deputies “will be presented in due course”.
“The quota belongs to the Secretary General of the PS, but its filling will of course be done according to a set of criteria that will be presented in due course, but at this stage there is no point in doing so,” he considered.
In the presence of journalists, the candidate for the PS leadership once again left a series of warnings to the PSD regarding the process of choosing the location of the new Lisbon airport, defending the position that in this matter ‘ necessary to look ahead and make a decision.”
“It was good that the PSD was part of the decision because it was the basis for the establishment of the Independent Technical Commission that prepared the preliminary report that is now under discussion. We cannot want the CTI to prepare a report and then reject it. because we don’t like the conclusions,” he criticized.
The former Minister of Infrastructure then added that he hoped the PSD “remains committed to a process in which it initially participated.”
“We must seek a consensus, we must seek an agreement, but we cannot allow ourselves to be paralyzed and we must make a decision as soon as possible. We have to make a decision in a process that has lasted 50 years. A decision with or without PSD,” he emphasized.
Source: DN
