The president of the PSD, Luís Montenegro, this Sunday found “justified and well-founded” criticism by Cavaco Silva of the government’s “More housing” program, arguing that these measures do not bring “confidence, stability and predictability” as would be necessary to fight crisis.
Luís Montenegro was in the audience this Sunday at the conference marking the 30th anniversary of the Special Rehousing Program (PER), an initiative of the Chamber of Lisbon, after hearing the harsh criticism of the former President of the Republic regarding to the new “More Housing” program and the achievements of the socialist government led by António Costa.
“The criticisms that were voiced were, above all, justified and substantiated. That is the most important thing. We have warned against this possibility that the government will bring everything that is not intended, namely confidence, stability, predictability and the ability to develop a real program that housing supply in Portugal increased”, he emphasized.
It was essential for the chairman of the PSD that these measures be provided “several of the difficulties felt this Sunday on the demand side” and that would also bring “some innovation from a response point of view.”
“None of this can be achieved with the government’s proposal. This was the basis for the presentation of the proposal that the PSD presented this week in the Assembly of the Republic, which had the viability of the PS for the time being, and that if this viability is a consequence , it will nevertheless succeed in solving some of the issues that have been raised here and with which we agree,” he defended.
On Cavaco Silva’s warnings regarding investor distrust due to government changing rules in the middle of the game, Montenegro considered that this happens not only with the program but also with “other strategic objectives of Portugal, namely attracting foreign direct investment that can boost job creation and qualified jobs, which can raise the level of wages in Portugal”.
“Today there are young Portuguese who approach emigration with more confidence in search of better living conditions than staying here and which, as Professor Cavaco Silva described here in an absolutely unequivocal way, is the result of a policy of distrust and lack of credibility that manifests itself in the medium term in disinvestment”convicted.
According to Montenegro, the commemoration of the PER’s 30th anniversary allows a reflection “on what the democratic history of Portugal has been since the introduction of democracy”.
“There were governments with vision, with the ability to see beyond, that left seeds to solve the structural problems of the country and the housing problem was an absolutely primal problem 30 years ago,” he said.
Source: DN
