More than a hundred personalities signed a manifesto calling for a ‘reformist and moderate alternative government’ led by the PSD, such as presenter Manuel Luís Goucha, former football coach Fernando Santos or doctor Fernando Póvoas.
The former governors of the socialist leaders Daniel Bessa and António Nogueira Leite and others who were part of the PSD governments such as Faria de Oliveira, Miguel Cadilhe and Luís Filipe Pereira are also signatories, in a list of names from different areas, such as the writer Margarida Rebelo Pinto, the conductor Rui Massena or the former president of the Order of Doctors Miguel Guimarães.
“The signatories express the conviction that it is possible and necessary to move to a reformist and moderate governmental alternative that strives for a new ambition for Portugal with the aim of resuming high levels of growth that place the country among the best in Europe and above that transcend.” with which we are currently comparing ourselves,” refers the first point of the text, released today by the PSD.
The subscribers say they believe that “the project led by Luís Montenegro and the PSD is able to embody this reformist, moderate and Europeanist alternative and offer the Portuguese a new social contract and the political change that Portugal needs.”
The implementation of “a political culture and governance with high ethical standards, integrity and political responsibility, respect for the separation of powers, and commitment to the credibility and capacity of institutions and the fight against corruption and the exploitation of influence” is another point of the manifesto. , as well as the rejection of “extremism or populism from any point on the ideological or partisan spectrum.”
The signatories call for this alternative to have “a strong social conscience”, but also “complementarity of public, private and social initiatives and offers” in areas such as health, education and housing, as well as a “firm commitment to join the European Union, to the euro and NATO”.
The manifesto also calls for a next government led by the PSD that is “committed to sustainable public finance management, in which budget balance and public debt reduction are indispensable conditions and means to be pursued in a sound manner,” as well as “political stability built on open dialogue”.
The list of signatories includes personalities such as the former campaign leader of Belém de Cavaco Silva Alexandre Relvas, the lawyer and brother of the President of the Republic Pedro Rebelo de Sousa and several coordinators of the National Strategic Council of the PSD, such as the student leader Ana Including Gabriela Cabilhas or manager Cristina Vaz Tomé.
Former national coach António Oliveira, neurosurgeon Manuel Cunha e Sá, economist João Moreira Rato, lawyer João Taborda da Gama or social security researcher Jorge Bravo are also subscribers.
Manuel Pinto Abreu, university professor and specialist in maritime affairs, Óscar Afonso, university professor of economics, actor Pedro Granger and former hockey player Vítor Hugo are also part of this list.
During a Christmas dinner with social democratic delegates, party chairman Luís Montenegro repeated the promise on Thursday that the PSD would open up to society and “would be with open arms to have more and more people who are not from the PSD.” support of the PSD”.
“People will realize that there are many people from the left and the right – and others who are neither one nor the other, who are qualified, interested Portuguese – available to come with us and convince the Portuguese that we are not to be what we are. The PS wants us to be: a society at the bottom, chained to subsidized dependencies, increasingly poor. We have everything we need to be a richer country, a fairer country,” he defended.
Source: DN
