The Socialist General Secretary criticized this Saturday “those who are now trying to teach management lessons” and who in the past abandoned internal affairs, alluding to Cavaco Silva.
Pedro Nuno Santos also argued that socialists are ordinary people who rule, not elites.
Speaking at a lunchtime rally in Bragança, Pedro Nuno Santos devoted much of his speech to domestic issues and, without naming it, responded to an article in the Correio da Manhã by former Prime Minister and President of the Republic Aníbal Cavaco Silva.
“Whoever today tries to teach lessons about how to govern Portugal, we remember how he ruled. We remember the time when the PSD, the Democratic Alliance (AD), a right-wing coalition, abandoned internal affairs,” he accused, drawing long applause from a full hall.
Pedro Nuno Santos stressed that the Socialists do not belong to “a time when some people from the past, who now appear in the election campaign, closed the railway lines.”
“We know who made the most important infrastructure investments in Trás os Montes and Alto Douro, it has always been PS, it has always been PS, it will continue to be PS,” he stressed.
In his speech, in which he reiterated that the PS viewed the hinterland with “respect and as an opportunity for development,” the Socialist leader accused the AD of ignoring these areas, stressing that “they introduced duties on SKAT without hesitation or hesitation.”
“It was clear to us that it was fundamentally fair for the country in the interior that we were cutting back, and we were cutting back. And I had the opportunity to say in Porto that we are not going to reduce tolls further inland, we are actually going to eliminate them,” he emphasized, once again causing applause.
Following this, the PS Secretary General once again insisted on the idea that the AD is an economic program that represents a “fiscal gamble” with a “$24.5 billion hole in public accounts”, which he said represents something more than just a Recovery and Resilience Plan. , which are “kindergartens, medical centers, roads, trains.”
However, despite the presence of “a hole in public accounts that will have consequences for social conditions and development”, continued Pedro Nuno, the right argues that “about 150 million euros that will be lost due to the abolition of tolls is a lot.”
“No, they have the wrong priorities: they always pull for those who are higher and for the minority. And we look at the country with responsibility, but looking at the country as a whole,” he said, establishing a difference between the way PS and AD are managed.
“We are not a power elite, we are ordinary people who listen to others and want to govern with others, listening to them, listening to their problems,” he said.
Addressing hundreds of activists who listened to him in the hall, Pedro Nuno Santos said that the main task of this campaign is to explain to people that they cannot “trade a right for a dubious one.”
“We have to hold on to what we have achieved, we cannot let them destroy what we have achieved and achieved and we have to point to the future. We don’t need people from the past, programs from the past, we are thinking about the future,” he emphasized.
In his speech, Pedro Nuno Santos emphasized that Bragança is an example of the potential of the interior, in particular its polytechnic institute, which he defended as “a pioneer in Portugal and in the world.”
“Braganza is an example of how we should spread throughout the country, but be stronger in Braganza,” he said.
He also stressed that one of the “slogans” of the socialist campaign, “Portugal as a Whole,” is not “just a slogan” but a way for the PS to look at the country “with respect, attention and appreciation.” those who are here are from those who stayed to work here.”
“With respect to you, but it’s not just that, it’s much more: we see the hinterland, the whole territory, as an opportunity not only for you, for the whole of Portugal. We are not giving up on the hinterland,” he said, concluding his speech by emphasizing that the PS believes in “exploiting the fullness” of Portuguese territory.