With a government that has “put on time” the president of the republic, the new leader of the IL, Rui Rocha, believes that the prime minister has “already given up on the country”, but the Portuguese also give up António Costa, including the public function.
“What we really want is for the country to have the conditions after the next election to become another country, because the model of governance we have from António Costa, the model of society, is the model of the economy exhausted and we even see that António Costa has already given up on the country and the country also gives up on António Costa”says Rui Rocha, in an interview with the Lusa bureau, elected president of IL two weeks ago in a very divided and tense election convention.
In Rui Rocha’s analysis, this is giving up is evident in the essential core of António Costa’s support as he sees “teachers on the street or doctors marking strikes”, that is, a “major challenge” for the president “coming from his natural support, namely in the civil service”.
“I think that civil servants themselves realize that this governance model is against their own interests”he said, anticipating “winds of change”.
After passing a kind of “death certificate” to a government “completely exhausted and politically dead” in the convention’s closing speech, the new IL president reiterates signs of “rapid degradation” in the socialist executive, but refuses to futurology.
“An absolute majority is of no use to the country, but it can help António Costa to hold on to the seat well beyond the validity period of his political solutions,” he admits.
Rui Rocha comments that the President of the Republic himself, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, “has put this government on the deadline by an absolute majority and has set 2023 as a year in which to present the work”.
“President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke of a majority that has not been built and gives the António Costa government this last chance, in the year 2023, to become an absolute majority. I believe that the President of the Republic is a little more optimistic than I”, he says, pointing out that this government and its prime minister “are not reformable”.
After the Liberal leader was highly critical of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s performance over the past year in the global strategy motion that led to the convention, Rui Rocha points out that “the President of the Republic António Costa has not yet given up because he guard, but clearly has a less benevolent view of what the exercise of government is”.
“As the Prime Minister said, the government has got it down and I believe the President of the Republic has finally recognized that,” he says.
Asked about the government solution found after the 2015 parliamentary elections, the so-called “thingy”, the leader of the IL states that it was “a tool that António Costa used at the time to come to power”.
“We clearly saw, despite the commitments, that António Costa, when he now had an absolute majority, had said that he was going to involve the contraceptive parties in these solutions. I believe he has not. At least the PCP and the Left Block has complained a lot about it,” he adds.
The new president of IL also defends that voting for the liberals is “the only one” that “guarantees that the PS leaves power and that Chega does not enter” and challenges the PSD to open the game on post-election agreements.
Rui Rocha states that the “the party’s image would benefit if the discussion had been a little more thoughtful at times”despite the fact that it is not in a weekend that the party is defined, but rather in the entire path already taken and in future political action.
With regard to possible post-electoral coalitions, the new leader of the IL emphasizes the importance of clarity and “democratic loyalty”, arguing that the Liberals have been clear in their position: a way of understanding with the PSD but without “any participation of extremist parties”. “.
“The result is that at the moment, with the known positions, the vote for the Liberal Initiative is the only vote that guarantees that the PS leaves power and that Chega does not come to power,” he defends.
Rui Rocha explains that he was concerned to be “very clear” from now on “what are the essential points for a possible understanding” after the elections with the PSD and that precisely for this reason “a specification of specifications” will be prepared in the near future the conditions of liberals.
This series of specifications with “decisives for a final understanding” promotes the liberal, includes the electoral system, the reduction of the tax burden, the reduction of government expenditures as a percentage of GDP, constitutional issues, freedom of choice in health and education, and the reduction of bureaucracy.
“We also had a conference last week where Chega said he wants places in government to support some sort of understanding with the PSD. And so there’s an immediate difference here: we’re based on ideas, occupying other positions regardless of their ideas. This is not the way the Liberal Initiative does politics.” to compare.
The clarification of some, according to Rui Rocha, raises two questions in the Portuguese political system, the first of which is to the PSD: “what are you doing? What are you going to do with regard to possible agreements?”
“But there is also a very important question for the PS: whether or not, if so, make agreements with the PCP.”with a party that takes an absolutely indefensible position, namely from a human rights point of view, the war in Ukraine, alongside a vision of democracy that is precisely anti-democratic,” he wonders.
According to the IL deputy, the party “does not rule out going to government in a certain context”, but believes that this is not the essential point.
“What we really want is to transform the country and so we want the transformation ideas, the specifications we’re talking about, to be at the center of the political discussion we’re going to have in a scenario of final understanding,” explains.
If later, “to ensure the implementation of these ideas, it is better for the country that the Liberal Initiative is in charge of the government”, the party will take its responsibility, Rui Rocha assures.
“If this is not a decisive issue, if another type of solution is better for the country, we will also be here to take our responsibility,” he says.
Rui Rocha also spoke in Portuguese about World Youth Day asking for “common sense”, recalling that taxpayers’ money is at stake and that “pharaonic works of dubious use” make no sense.
“When word got out that World Youth Day was coming to Portugal, the President of the Republic made a lavish statement saying ‘We did it. Lisbon, Portugal, we did it’. I would say we are looking at this now and say “Lisbon, Portugal, we wasted,” Rui Rocha replies.
According to the new leader of the IL, “in general it lacked common sense”. The Liberal leader believes that, as happens at other major events, “nothing is prepared in time”, and criticizes “a negligence in the management” of the whole process.
“There is a management deficit, there is a lack of common sense in what these events are and, in general, in the management of public activities and public money, which is ultimately taxpayer money. This is the concern we have,” emphasizes.
While things were not settled before, Rui Rocha argues that it is now “necessary to make decisions” because otherwise it is WYD itself that is “at stake” and it would be “a pity that Portugal would not risk Through”.
“I believe that after an initial discussion we all agree that pharaonic works of questionable utility make no sense at all and that therefore the principle of common sense should prevail in the management of these matters,” to confirm.
Rui Rocha reiterates that this is a matter for the parliamentary bench and recalls that the decision taken at the time was that the party “would eventually reassess this situation if circumstances change”.
“We have a clarification of the PS, but we have no clarification of the PSD. In addition, there must be an IL deputy who has a desire to run for the vice presidency, but there is a lack of clarification of what justified.” the non-approval of João Cotrim Figueiredo and this is essential for us to consider that there is a change in circumstances,” he defended.
Source: DN
