On Tuesday, the PSD leader said there were now “noticeable differences” between the SDP and the PS that voters could choose in the March elections, and that he had guaranteed his party would not wait until the Socialists were ready to reach regime agreements.
“It is good that there are two options and that they are so visible at the moment, because this is the best way for voters to have a choice,” said Luis Montenegro in Estarreja.
According to the leader of the Social Democrats, “there is an SDP interested in a prosperous economy, creating wealth and counting on everyone to provide the public services that people need.”
“There is a nationalist, communist, socialist and blocist vision, which is led by the current Secretary General of the Socialist Party,” said Pedro Nuno Santos, Montenegro said.
The PSD leader spoke to journalists after visiting the Estarreya market during a tour of the Aveiro region as part of the Sentir Portugal initiative.
Regarding mutual understanding between the two largest parties “on important issues”, Luis Montenegro said that “it is always possible to have a political dialogue between all parties, especially those responsible for the leading governments.”
“We have always had this opportunity, and I called on the Socialist Party to do this, namely to agree with us on a tax regime for young people that gives them the opportunity to pay less taxes in the first years of professional activity,” he gave an example.
Montenegro also emphasized that “he told PS that the survival of the National Health Service presupposes a national pact between the public, private and social sectors, and preferably also with political agents.”
“I am already ready to cooperate, but it must be without ideological restrictions,” he said, admitting that “it will be difficult to find bridges of consensus” with the current PS, which claims to have changed its political position.
“It was the PS that joined the Left Bloc and the Communist Party and proceeded to nationalize transport operations and nationalize the airline at all prices known to us,” he criticized.
According to Luis Montenegro, it was the PS that “focused more on the extreme left of the political spectrum, joining forces with parties adhering to a collectivist and statist vision” of the country.
MSO // PC
Lusa/The End