The socialist general secretary on Wednesday reflected that the PS should celebrate its 50th anniversary with an eye to the future, warning that war is always on the way and populism is a threat.
António Costa spoke at the end of the dinner commemorating the 50th anniversary of the PS, at the Pavilhão Carlos Lopes, in Lisbon, in a speech in which he began by highlighting the first years of Portuguese democracy and the struggles that then was waged by Portuguese socialists for political freedom and freedom of association.
“Portugal is for the people, not for Moscow,” declared the current socialist leader, recalling one of the slogans of the PS in 1975, during the Revolutionary Process in Koers (PREC).
The current PS leader greeted all former PS secretaries-general, “from Mário Soares to António José Seguro”, highlighting the changes implemented by all socialist governments, including that of José Sócrates.
Of all previous leaders, António Costa had to listen to him from Vítor Constâncio and Ferro Rodrigues, of whom, moreover, he was a member of his leadership in the PS.
For more than 20 minutes, the current secretary-general of the PS demanded changes in Portuguese society for his party, such as the permission for divorce for Catholic marriages, the autonomy of the public prosecutor in the judicial system, the establishment of the national health service with António Arnaut or the accession of Portugal to the European Economic Community with Mário Soares.
“But we are not here to celebrate the 50 years that have passed. We are here to remember the 50 years that have passed, but above all to broaden our horizons, with our eyes on the future, so that we don’t need to be sober,” he said, quoting the historic leader of the Spanish Socialists, Felipe González.
According to the Portuguese Prime Minister, the celebration of the PS’s 50th anniversary should “open new perspectives on the horizon, in ambition, in hope, in conviction”.
“There is a certainty we can have: today the war may be different, today we need a new trench, but we will always have a war ahead of us,” he insisted.
The leader of the socialists pointed out that today “there is no longer a dictatorship that persecutes”, as in the days of the founding of his party, “but there is a populism that threatens democracy and that must be fought”.
“Many existing inequalities have been eliminated, but the climate and digital transitions create new risks of inequality.
In his speech, the Secretary General of the PS considered that the main challenge of society “is to guarantee the younger part of the current generation the conditions that will enable the country to take the leap forward that the country still needs to even closer to the most developed countries in the European Union”.
In this context, the only direct attack on political forces was left to the socialists’ right.
“The right, which has envy in its DNA, is only concerned about those who are less developed who are moving closer to us. We are not jealous, but satisfied, because Europe is not an opportunity for us and a disadvantage for others,” pleaded he.
António Costa then took the example of the former Olympic marathon champion Rosa Mota, who was sitting at the table.
“Our goal is not to look back. Our Rosa Mota, when she ran the marathon, would never win if she always looked back. She only won because she looked at the finish line, looking at the goal she had. And our It The goal is not that those who are less developed remain less developed. Our goal is to achieve the goal, to be more developed and prosperous,” he added.
Source: DN
