German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz this Wednesday praised the “progressive” political leadership of PS Secretary General António Costa in Portugal and the performance of the Portuguese economy, arguing that we are currently witnessing a turnaround.
Olaf Scholz was one of the speakers at the dinner commemorating the 50th anniversary of the PS, at the Carlos Lopes Pavilion in Lisbon, where he attended as leader of the German Social Democrats, SPD – a party which was decisive in terms of support for the establishment of the PS on April 19, 1973 in Bad Munstereifel, on the outskirts of Bonn.
The German chancellor opened with praise for António Costa’s reaction when he won an absolute majority in the early parliamentary elections in January 2022.
“You said an absolute majority is not synonymous with absolute power. What an example of democratic leadership”he noted, before referring to the first leader of the Portuguese Socialists, Mário Soares, and former foreign minister Jaime Gama.
“They believed in what Portugal is today under the leadership of António Costa. We are witnessing a change of tides. The world of the 21st century will undoubtedly be multipolar, with new powers emerging or re-emerging and at the same time with a transformation towards a digital and climate-neutral world. We have nothing to fear if we are prepared to embrace the future,” says Olaf Scholz.
The German Chancellor then praised Portugal’s economic results in recent years, saying they are the result of “progressive political leadership”.
“A leadership of a country that embraces the future, that sees change not as a threat, but as an opportunity to improve the state of things and grow. This premise, that the future is open and that we can contribute to the improvement of it, is what unites us as social democrats in Europe and the world,” he added.
In his speech, as had happened hours before at the press conference he gave in São Bento, the Prime Minister of Germany condemned the Russian military intervention in Ukraine.
This time, however, he also praised the performance of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.
“We owe António Guterres and his efforts the first lifting of the export blockade from Ukraine,” he stressed.
He ended with a quote from the historic leader of the German Social Democrats, Willy Brandt: “It is our duty to move from national selfishness to an internal and global European policy that takes into account the responsibility to ensure that all people, wherever they are, have a humane and dignified,
Source: DN
