Katarina Martins accuses Costa of being ‘angry with the country’ and warns that BA is no stranger to

This Saturday, the BE coordinator accused the prime minister of being “angry with the country” and warned that the party is “not accustomed” to a government that “from time to time exchanges a salary for an outstretched hand of support.”

At the lunchtime rally of the Esquerda Block (BE) on the Mercado do Forno do Tijolo in Lisbon, Catarina Martins made several references to an interview with António Costa published this week in Visão magazine, given that the prime minister is “angry with the country” and “feels offended”, as well as criticizing the warning to parties to get used to the absolute majority of the Socialist Party (PS).

“We don’t get used to it and don’t accept that someone says that they are engaged in leftist politics, when they attack wages and pensions, when they exchange wages from time to time for an outstretched hand of support that the government wants to give instead of the right to decent wages worthy of the one who works,” he said.

The BE coordinator also expressed regret that the “good news” about public accounts is not reflected in people’s real lives.

“There is nothing more humiliating for the country than to hear the Government say that the economy is growing more than expected, brag about it and, at the same time, those who live on their wages and pensions are getting worse and worse. But what grows and for whom?” he asked.

In her speech, the BE leader chose housing as “one of the main concerns” of the party and promised that she would speak on the subject “every day” against “golden” visas and tax breaks for unaccustomed residents.

The founders of BE Luís Fazenda, who also spoke, Francisco Lusa and Fernando Rosas, attended the lunchtime rally.

Ironically, Katarina Martins said she was worried that in what should have been a month of meetings and reconciliation, António Costa has shown himself so angry that the left does not recognize the merits of his rule.

“Only out of malice, these leftists are not grateful to the absolute majority of PS (…) Antonio Costa is angry at the country with which he does not understand this extraordinary thing, which, if not for the absolute majority of the country, would be worse, as evidenced by PSD statements that with every PS measure say, “That’s exactly what we were going to do,” he continued.

Now in a more serious tone, the BE leader said she was more concerned about the “suffering of people’s lives”, pointing to a 20 percent increase in the food basket or rising housing prices, recalling that a few months ago the prime minister said that “golden” visas “already fulfilled their role and were not needed.

“What was this role if not to welcome those who hide the money they stole in other countries of the world, in our country, if not how Portugal welcomes the world’s oligarchs, including Russians?” he criticized, adding that golden visas are “also a way to make housing prices unaffordable”.

However, Katharina Martins denounced, golden visas have not run out, even in the center of Lisbon and Porto, as promised.

“They continue to exist at the expense of funds and make housing prices skyrocket,” he accused, lamenting that most Portuguese cannot live near their place of work, losing “crazy hours on transport”, and also increasing harmful emissions into the atmosphere . Environment.

Katarina Martins only accused PS of helping real estate speculators in terms of housing.

“They will applaud the socialist majority, who wants to live in the house, he will be in opposition to this government, and this is where Blok is,” he assured.

Housing issues were also at the center of speeches by deputy Joana Mortagua and Lisbon municipal councilor Beatriz Gomes Diaz, while Luis Fazenda made more ideological interventions.

“Do not demand moderation from us, no one has moderation these days (…). For our part, we can only oppose radicalism, radicalism that does not want the half-color of the political center, which I don’t want the center, and that first of all wants to empty it,” he said, defending that the alternative to the left should be “clear, direct and transparent.”