The leaders of the Bloc de Esquerda (Belgium) and Livre (L), Mariana Mortagua and Rui Tavares, respectively, met this Thursday face to face in a new debate broadcast by the TV channel SIC news in the election campaign ahead of the 2024 legislative elections.
The debate began with politicians addressing Luis Montenegro’s desire not to participate in debates with Livre and the CDU. “It’s a huge discourtesy,” Ruy Tavares said.
“I am upset with Mariana Mortagua because after the debate with Montenegro he no longer wanted to debate with us,” the leader of Livre also mocked, to the laughter of both of them.
“This debate is very important, and I think it is wrong for them to change the rules in the middle of the game. Montenegro showed itself by refusing to debate,” explained Mariana Mortagua.
Mariana Mortagua and Ruy Tavares point out the differences between Livre and Bloc de Esquerda
Political leaders addressed issues on which they disagreed, focusing on banning the sale of houses to non-residents.
“As long as we do not stop looking outward, other measures will make sense,” Mortagua recalled.
Rui Tavares countered that “closing the doors” is not the solution and that in fact “banning sales to non-residents is a problem under European law.” Mortagua responded that “there are policies that must adapt to the requirements of the moment.”
The Livre leader, although mindful of the differences between the two parties, believes that both are not simply competing for votes for left-wing parties.
“I don’t think we’re discussing the interests of left-wing voters. All parties welcome all voices. We all want to have more representation.”
Tavares and Mortagua also addressed the issue of emigration, especially among young people. The leader of Livre recalls that although many young people are leaving Portugal, they are leaving in fewer numbers than during the Troika era.
“We live in a zone of freedom in Europe, which we are supporters of, which allows young people not to wait for politicians to get higher salaries.”
The leader of the bloc recalled that Portugal failed to retain “qualified people” and pointed to solutions. “This can be combatted by increasing wages, which are not rising by some miracle; work is needed to combat instability,” he said.
“The right doesn’t know how to achieve economic growth,” he added.
This was the second debate for each of the politicians. The leader of the bloc has already “collided” with the candidate from the Democratic Alliance, Luis Montenegro.
On Wednesday, the Livre representative debated Rui Rocha of the Liberal Initiative.
Author: morning Post
Source: CM Jornal
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