The leader of the Liberal Initiative (IL), Rui Rocha, this Saturday classified as “anecdote” the statements of the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santos Silva, who defined the Portuguese socialists as the most authentic expression of classical political liberalism .
“We all realize that it is an unreasonable statement. The Socialist Party has its matrix and even its matrix is unable to execute. Therefore it is worth as an anecdote and in acknowledgment of the path that the Liberal Initiative affirmation of the principles and of liberal ideas,” said the liberal leader.
Rui Rocha, speaking to the Lusa bureau on the sidelines of a meeting of the leaders of the European liberal parties in Sweden, commented on a statement made Friday by the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santos Silva, who defended it “the strongest and most legitimate expression of classical political liberalism is social democracy” and that in Portugal the representative is the PS and not the Liberal Initiative.
“If the Socialist Party is bad at socialism, then of course it would be bad at liberalism,” he joked.
On the other hand, the IL leader praised the attitude taken by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in recent weeks, as he is “now much more focused on the exercise of governance” and “less on the opposition “.
“I believe that in recent weeks the President of the Republic has concentrated his work on something that seems very important to me, which is the question to the government and the Prime Minister, António Costa. Before that he was very focused on alternative issues and now it is much more focused on the exercise of governance. I welcome that,” he underlined.
On the meeting in Stockholm with the European liberal parties, Rui Rocha said that topics such as the war in Ukraine, the mechanisms of the European rule of law, economic growth, artificial intelligence and strategies to combat populism and extremism were discussed.
“A great commitment on our part to defend the liberal policies that have led Europe and several European countries to a path of progress and economic growth,” he stressed.
Source: DN
