Rui Rocha says the debate between PS and AD lacked courage and ambition

Liberal Initiative (IL) leader Rui Rocha said on Tuesday that Monday’s televised debate between PS Secretary General Pedro Nuno Santos and PSD President Luis Montenegro lacked courage and ambition. .

“There wasn’t enough ambition at this table, there wasn’t enough courage to really change the country, and the country doesn’t have time anymore. We cannot continue to delay reform, we cannot continue to delay the hope that we will have a different country. where young people can stay, where they will find the opportunity to grow through their work, where the Portuguese have the opportunity to earn a living with more money in their pockets,” he said.

Speaking to journalists at an election event held on Tuesday at the Mercado dos Lavradores market in Funchal, Rui Rocha said that the “solution for the country” was not present in this debate, arguing that the PS proposals were “rather the same” and the PSD’s ideas “they change the country little.”

“I gave several examples, but one of them seems very important to me: someone who is now 40 years old and earns 1,500 euros gross, PS tells people: in 2024 we are going to keep exactly the IRS that exists. […]The SDP gives people 5 euros more at the end of the month, the Liberal Initiative gives that person another 109 euros,” he said.

Responding to a question about the fact that Pedro Nuno Santos said that he was ready to facilitate the creation of a government of the Democratic Alliance (a coalition uniting PSD, SDS-PP and PPM), Rui Rocha noted that it is “very important” that political leaders convey this clarity and “tell the country which scenarios are viable and which are not.”

“The position of Pedro Nuno Santos is fixed, the position of the Liberal Initiative is that it does not make PS governments viable because our program is really very different. Because in the last 30 years we have had 21 years of PS rule, which has led to the country stagnating, to very low economic growth, to the emigration of our youth, to an aging country, to a country with pockets of poverty that we have not yet managed to overcome.” , – he said.

Regarding the police demonstration outside the Capitol on Wednesday night during the debate, the IL leader expressed “full understanding of the grievances” of these professionals, but noted that “unauthorized forms of demonstration will not be tolerated.”

Rui Rocha also emphasized that, unlike parties such as Chega, PKP, BE and Livre, he does not agree with the right of the police to strike, arguing that “criminal activity on days of police strikes will increase significantly, as has already been seen in other countries where this happened.”

“And therefore we cannot play with the security of the Portuguese. Defending the right of police officers to strike is irresponsible and jeopardizes the safety of the Portuguese people,” he stressed.