Carlos Moedas: the hardest thing is to be a “moderate politician”

The mayor of Lisbon said this Thursday that in the context of the “polarization of extremes, left and right,” it is most difficult to be a “moderate politician.”

Carlos Moedas spoke to reporters as he took part in Lisbon’s April 25 parade, which drew thousands of people to Avenida da Liberdade in what the mayor called a “celebration of unity” for the Portuguese.

“We must be united. April 25 is not for one or the other, it is for everyone, for the entire Portuguese people, and this union must be real,” he said.

And he recalled that he owes what he is today to the revolution: “I would not have become mayor, I would not have had the career that I did, because I was a child from a poor family in Alentejo, and here I am and seeing this alliance among the Portuguese.”

Carlos Moedas stated that society has become polarized “not only in Portugal but also in Europe” and that “this polarization is harmful to democracy, this distance, this hatred that often arises.”

“The problem today is not only the far right, but also the far left; there is a polarization of the extremes, left and right, which is dangerous for society and democracy,” he noted.

“The most important and most difficult thing today is to be a moderate politician, and a moderate politician must also at times use the aggressive language of that moderation, because that moderation is democracy,” he continued.

Thousands of people took to the streets this Thursday in various parts of Portugal, holding carnations and banners with slogans and recognition of the carnation revolution.

In Lisbon, Avenida da Liberdade was completely filled from Marqués de Pombal and nearby avenues, towards Rossio, which had not been so crowded with participants in the celebrations of April 25, 1974 for several years.