The PSD said at the IL convention today that only its party is “the voice of the opposition and the alternative” to the socialist government, which it accused of humiliating itself “in cases and cases” without responding to the problems of the Portuguese.
Speaking to journalists at the end of the VII Convention of the IL, PSD vice president António Leitão Amaro saluted Rui Rocha for his election as the fourth president of the Liberals and defended that all parties are “free to build their alternative” .
On the challenges of the new leader of the IL, who asked the president of the PSD, Luís Montenegro, to explain why he did not vote for the liberals’ censure motion and the party’s position in the constitutional revision, Leitão referred Amaro the liberals on the diploma of the social democrats on the second point.
The PSD Vice-President stressed that the project of the Social Democrats “requires a prior court decision” in order to decide on imprisonment, ending the IL’s motion of censure against the government in which the PSD abstained in the vote. domain of the “electoral league”.
Enough wants to unite all right
Chega Rui deputy Paulo Sousa today called for the union of the right, but warned the Liberal Initiative that if it does not reach agreements with André Ventura’s party, it could fall outside the governing arc.
Leader Rui Paulo Sousa spoke to journalists shortly after the conclusion of the IL’s VII National Convention, which took place this weekend at Lisbon’s Congress Center, when he congratulated Rui Rocha on his election as the Liberals’ new president.
In a reference to the Aximage survey for TSF, Newspaper and DN published today, Rui Paulo Sousa stressed that this shows that “it is more than clear that the right will be the future government of this country”.
“And for us to reach the government, it is important for the right to unite, to count on the parties, both with the PSD, with IL and with Chega,” he said.
Asked about the position of IL’s new leader Rui Rocha, who rejected similarities with Chega in the internal campaign, Rui Paulo Sousa replied: “We will see in the future whether this is really true or not”.
“What can happen to IL if it does not want to make an agreement with us is simply to fall outside the governing arc or not an option, and of course it can be punished for that in the elections. Because the right is not a viable alternative, it is clear that people will vote for parties that offer this alternative and this possibility of governance to the right,” he stressed.
CDS folds differences
The CDS-PP stressed today that the IL is not the opponent of the Christian Democrats, but emphasized the differences of opinion between the two parties on issues such as euthanasia or the liberalization of soft drugs. In a conversation with journalists after the conclusion of the VII Convention of the IL, the vice president of the CDS-PP Telmo Correia greeted the new liberal leader, Rui Rocha.
“We do not see the IL as an opponent from the start, our opponent is the PS, which does not mean that there are not significant differences between what the CDS is and what the IL has just stated,” he said pointing out the social concerns and ” with the poorest” of the Christian Democrats as the main distinction.
Still, Telmo Correia defended the importance of there being an alternative to the current government and assured that the CDS-PP – which lost parliamentary representation in the last parliamentary election – “wants to be part of that alternative”.
“This alternative must be discussed between the centre-right parties of which the IL is a part, a party with which, like the PSD, we are ready to engage in dialogue and build an alternative,” he said.
Telmo Correia reacted with irony to those who say that this centre-right alternative is not ready yet. “And the PS is there? It just doesn’t seem like it, day after day. It’s about time to come up with an alternative and the CDS wants to be part of that alternative,” he insisted.
When asked whether IL cannot definitively take the place that once belonged to the CDS-PP, Telmo Correia replied in the negative. “In the chair, maybe. Now the political space and the concepts are not, they are completely different,” he defended, pointing out that the CDS-PP “has been fighting for years” against euthanasia and the liberalization of drugs, two issues that by the IL.
PS away from “economic radicalism”
The deputy and socialist leader Porfírio Silva today welcomed the liberal initiative for the election of the new leader, Rui Rocha, but distanced himself from the party’s “radicalism in economic affairs” and praised the achievements of the government of António Costa.
Speaking to journalists after the closing of the VII National Convention of the IL, in the Congress Center of Lisbon, where Rui Rocha was elected the new president, the socialist Porfírio Silva began with a salute to the liberals. “It is a party that is part of the democratic institutions, it is important that those who have ideas for the country organize and present them to the country and can present projects and that is why we welcome the IL convention and the new president democratically” , said the leader of the Permanent Committee of the PS.
For Porfírio Silva – who was present as a representative of the PS together with Susana Amador, a deputy and also a member of the Standing Committee of the Socialists – “it is clear that there are alternatives”, but the PS has “very clear ideas” about the agreements and differences of opinion with the IL.
“We cannot agree with IL’s radicalism in the economic field, we cannot accept that the strongest devour the weakest in the name of an abstract conception of freedom,” he defended.
For socialists, “concrete people need concrete conditions in order to have concrete freedom”. “And that’s why we believe in redistribution, we believe in fighting social inequality, we believe and practice,” he said, pointing out that according to recent data from the National Institute of Statistics “compared to 2015” Portugal today “734 thousand fewer people at risk of poverty or exclusion”.
“This does not mean that everything is ready, it means that we must continue. And also that we have been able to reconcile the fight against inequality with economic growth,” he concluded.
Livre does not want any “ambiguities” with the extreme right
Livre leader Patrícia Robalo, who was also present at the closing session of the IL convention, congratulated Rui Rocha, to whom she wished a “great mandate”, but pointed out the significant differences between the two parties.
“Livre defends a very different model of development, more inclusive and ecological, but we appreciate the debate about ideas. But it is important to emphasize that there can be no ambiguities with regard to the far right,” he warned in a reference to Chega.
Source: DN
