The left bloc commits to negotiate a deal for the left majority after the legislative elections

This Friday, the BE coordinator committed himself, after the March legislative elections, to “finding a majority agreement for a left-wing government program,” which would have to include specific measures to address problems in health, education, housing or wages.

At a press conference in Lisbon, Mariana Mortagua took “full responsibility for clarity and informing voters about what the party intends to do in the next elections, given that “Portugal needs to solve problems that have been created, that have persisted and that have often been exacerbated absolute majority.”

“In presenting its program, the Bloc seeks to negotiate a majority agreement on a government program that does something that has never been done,” he said, noting that the decision was made at a previous meeting of the party’s Political Committee.

According to the leader of the bloc, it was the vote for BE that “guaranteed that in Portugal the majority would be committed to a left-wing program and measures that solved problems that the absolute majority did not know how to solve, and this made the situation worse.” “.

Mariana Mortagua listed the areas of housing, health, education, wages, climate and child and old age care as those in which the party would demand “concrete measures” in these possible negotiations, thus presenting a kind of specification for each of these areas. with the party’s proposals.

“We know that a simple sum of deputies in itself does not create a stable majority. This stability depends on specific measures that will change and correct the choice made by the absolute majority of the PS,” he emphasized.

The BE leader announced that on January 20 the party’s electoral program will be presented for the legislative elections to be held on March 10, and that “based on these proposals and their public debate” the blocs will take “the responsibility of opening paths for dialogue, clarity and mobilization to implement measures” that will make this expected electoral act “the beginning of decisive changes for the people.”

Asked if he had already spoken about his readiness to negotiate with the elected secretary general of the PS, Pedro Nuno Santos, Mortagua replied that he had not and that the dialogue he had with the socialist was only for the sake of “politeness” after his election. .

Regarding the timing of this announcement, that is, on the morning of the start of the PS congress, the bloc coordinator explained that this is the day after the bloc body meeting and that this is “the right time for this” and therefore “now is the right time for this” . neither late nor early,” noting earlier that the PS has already “formulated its internal definition” and therefore “full transparency, complete clarity is necessary.”

“The left has a responsibility to give the country a horizon of hope. We took on this responsibility in 2015, when we signed an agreement with the PS to repeal the measures taken by the right. Today, much more is needed than just this,” he warned.

Noting that “in 2019, the PS abandoned the written agreement and interrupted the dialogue with the left,” Mortagua confirmed that the party’s commitment was to “negotiate measures to solve Portugal’s problems.”

When asked whether this possible post-election agreement could be in the same format as the 2015 invention, that is, have parliamentary influence, or whether the BU would recognize the assumption of other responsibilities and presence in government, the blocker did not answer directly and only said that the party wants to “guarantee a majority in parliament around specific measures.”

“All parties have a responsibility to say how they will solve every problem that Portugal faces, and this is the only way to have an election campaign that is transparent, informative for the country, that tells the country what each party is going to do in a scenario where no one wants an absolute majority,” he said.