João Cotrim Figueiredo, outgoing president of the Liberal Initiative, joked this Saturday that Fernando Medina would be a “great successor” to António Costa at the head of the PS, accusing the minister of “never knowing anything”.
“He never knows anything, he is always distracted. He did not know about the data on the Ukrainian dissidents sent to the Russian embassy, he did not know about the compensation paid at TAP. And now he does not know how a former PS Mayor of Castelo Branco was the only one able to supervise verdicts in Lisbon,” he accused in the opening speech of the VII Convention of the IL.
“He would in any case be a great successor to António Costa, who is also a specialist in shaking the water off his coat,” he joked.
Cotrim Figueiredo stated that IL “made the difference in the file of the nationalization of TAP”, arguing that it was the party with a clear position on the privatization of the airline from the beginning.
“The government already recognizes that the money will not be recovered. Minister Pedro Nuno Santos, who got us into this mess, has already left with his tail between his legs (I don’t know if he is shaking, like the legs of German bankers) António Costa with more pirouette now admits to 100% privatization of TAP and the executive management of TAP “goes free, hires friends and fires administrators with huge fees”, he criticized.
The leader defended that the IL was “the only party that systematically put the issue of economic growth at the top of its agenda” and emphasized its role in legislative “files” such as medically assisted death, to which the IL contributed with a bill – – degree that was passed this month. sent to the Constitutional Court by the President of the Republic.
“In this case, without the IL, there would have been no guarantee of access to palliative care before the start of the process, nor would the freedom of choice of the health professionals involved have been guaranteed. The liberal initiative has made a difference,” he stressed. .
According to Cotrim de Figueiredo, the party said it was “present” in the elaboration of this project “in defense of an individual right that the state must not limit”.
Regarding the constitutional revision, Cotrim de Figueiredo defended that the party must be alert to “continue to make a difference during the constitutional revision process that has now started at a bad time on the initiative of Chega, and in which the PS and PSD decided to embark on the any reason they want to give constitutional coverage to the mandatory incarceration of infected people and the misuse of metadata for criminal investigations.”
“The parties in the system agree to curtail our fundamental freedoms without the intervention of parliament and in some cases even without the intervention of the courts. This is unacceptable and the liberal initiative will make a difference here too,” he stressed.
The warning to Costa: “Get used to being angry with the Liberals”
João Cotrim Figueiredo also warned the prime minister that he would have to get used to remaining annoyed with the party, arguing that the IL “makes the opposition more intelligent and effective”.
“We asserted ourselves as the only ideological alternative to socialism. But we also asserted ourselves as the only alternative capable of providing concrete solutions to people’s problems. Tried solutions, different solutions,” he defended .
For the still-leader of the IL, the party gained political credibility, “something so hard to win, but so easy to lose”, which he deemed “essential to continue growing and earning the trust of more and more Portuguese”. .
“And it is because we realize that it is the liberal initiative that makes the opposition more intelligent and effective that the PS and António Costa are so annoyed with us. It is a good time to tell the Prime Minister here that the liberal initiative here is to keep giving him reasons to get angry: get used to it!”he appealed, in allusion to the phrase used by the prime minister to refer to the opposition in an interview with Visão.
In a highly acclaimed speech – which started an hour and 45 minutes later than scheduled -, Cotrim Figueiredo defended that the IL “came to shake the party system and the political debate” and also irritated his opponents with his motto: “liberalism works and Portugal needs it”.
In his speech, the outgoing president of the IL challenged “all lovers of cynicism” to say that “there are not more and more liberals in Portugal.
“We have grown and asserted ourselves. To our political opponents, to all the cynics I say: look at us, look at us and now tell them that there are not more and more liberals in Portugal,” he said.
“This convention is a clear proof of this growth: I was elected at a convention with 196 people, today we have 1,300 here and another 1,000 online followers. Twelve times more in just three years,” he praised, noting that the members of the IL went from 600 in 2019 to over 6,000 currently and cores from six to a hundred.
In electoral terms, Cotrim Figueiredo emphasized the growth from one to eight deputies in the Assembly of the Republic, the capture of a seat in the Regional Legislative Assembly of the Azores and expressed the expectation that the same will happen this year in the regional offices of Madeira, announcing that the IL will hold its parliamentary days in this archipelago in July.
“In 2021 we went to municipal elections for the first time, we mobilized almost 3,300 liberals on the IL lists across the country. And now, working hard in each of its municipalities, we have shown what it is to be a liberal in the local, 89 magnificent mayors,” saluted.
In his final address to the Convention as president – which he insisted was not a “farewell speech” – he thanked his entire team over the years.
“You know who you are, you lost nights, you lost privacy, you got gray hair (those who still had hair), you put on pounds, you took risks with me, you’re a great team, you’re the soul of the Liberal Initiative. It is largely thanks to your work and ability that we can all say today that the Liberal Initiative’s political project is a winning project,” he stressed.
João Cotrim Figueiredo announced last October that he would not run for re-election in the midterm elections, surprising the Liberal ranks after later announcing his near-immediate support for one of the three leadership candidates . Rui Roche.
Cotrim says he has the right to express his opinion on an internal dispute
The outgoing president of the IL also responded to internal critics that he did nothing for his “profit or convenience” as he has the right to express an opinion on who should be the future leader, who is not a “decorative figure” could be.
João Cotrim Figueiredo viewed some of the criticisms leveled at him internally during the election campaign as unfair, including those about the immediate support he gave to candidate Rui Rocha, as he believes that his rights as a party member are not affected. , “especially when so much is at stake in this election”.
“The president should not be a decorative figure. (…) I have a right and I have a duty to make my views public and that is what I did,” he assured, pointing out that the decision of the liberals is sovereign and that the members think “in their own heads”.
Directly addressing “all these criticisms and all these critics”, João Cotrim Figueiredo wanted to leave an answer “face to face”: “everything, really everything, that I did was not for my benefit or convenience, but always and exclusively for the good of the Liberal Initiative. I don’t know if all the critics can say the same”.
In a speech in which he was moved in the last part, the outgoing president expected that the IL will remain united after the internal elections because the party’s opponents are “outside, they are not inside”.
“I will remain by your side, now as a base member, with no positions, with no favours, always available to serve the liberal cause within my means and with respect for my conscience. This is not goodbye, it is goodbye forever. Always , always in the interest of the liberal initiative and in the interest of Portugal,” he promised.
Source: DN
