Christine Lagarde [presidente do BCE] says it arouses interest [taxas diretoras com impacto no crédito à habitação], which will continue to raise interest rates and which it knows will harm workers in Europe and it knows that Portugal will suffer particularly. Where is the big-chested prime minister right now who talks about stability and likes to show off his power?” commented Catarina Martins, speaking at a luncheon with militants from the Bloco de Esquerda in Coimbra.
Referring to the disagreement between the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic over the maintenance of Infrastructure Minister João Galamba, Catarina Martins considered that “in this battle of palaces between São Bento and Belém, neither São Bento nor Belém has a word to say about the rise in interest rates and the rise in housing costs”.
“Where is the Prime Minister’s chest made to defend the Portuguese people and tell the ECB that it cannot continue to raise interest rates in this way? Or the major economic groups that cannot continue to eat our economy at a profit? This Prime Minister who I heard commentators say had he shown that he had power? Where is the power that is needed, and that is the power to defend those who live from work,” stressed Catarina Martins, who also accused Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa of remaining silent on the interest rate policy of the ECB.
Catarina Martins also admitted her disbelief when she “heard a minister give a press conference to describe in detail the lack of respect there was in his ministry. [referindo-se ao ministro João Galamba e denúncias de um conflito físico envolvendo o seu ex-adjunto Frederico Pinheiro]”.
“And then, if not, when the Prime Minister arrives – and I think this is historic – at the door of the official residence, with a serious air, to talk about an incident and a bicycle that flew through a window. I confess that I know there are many problems, but I did not know that what needed our attention at the time was a lack of respect for the ministry, which is a police matter and not a matter of communication to the country,” said Catarina Martins.
For the coordinator of the Bloco de Esquerda, “everything has been discussed in recent days except what matters”.
“If all this is ridiculous, it is also serious. It is serious, because as we leave the palaces and approach the homes of the people where they live, we realize that the battle between palaces is very little fun and says little to those who can’t pay the mortgage, to those who can’t rent a house, to those who don’t know how to make it to the end of the month,” he stressed.
At the end of her intervention of just over ten minutes, Catarina Martins stressed that “there is no battle between palaces” that makes the fundamental party forget that “the people deserve much more respect than they have had”.
Source: DN
