Mariana Mortagua says the choice in elections “is between moving backwards and moving forward”

BE’s co-ordinator said on Tuesday evening that the choice in this election is between “running back” to a right-wing government and “moving forward” with a left-wing majority in which blocs have a say.

At a rally in Santa Maria da Feira, Aveiro, Mariana Mortagua set the goal of being elected again in this constituency and returning Moises Ferreira back to parliament after BE lost the two deputies it had in this constituency in the last elections.

“Choice [no domingo] It’s between running back and rushing forward,” he concluded.

According to the BE leader, “Running back means handing over power to the defenders of pension cuts, the biggest tax increases in history, the persecution of women, which was the government under Passos Coelho, Paulo Portas and Montenegro.”

“Anyone who thinks they are punishing a bad government with an absolute majority by voting for the SDP will end up punishing themselves, because all the right a country can offer is a worse life, it is a step backwards,” he warned.

The other option in Sunday’s elections, which for Mortagua “is a real option,” is to “move forward,” a choice he believes “depends on the strength that BE will have in these elections.”

“As happened in 2015, the Bloc can determine the program of the next government. We can achieve what the PS, left alone with an absolute majority, has always refused to do,” he noted, referring to this invention.

The speech of the bloc leader began with an emphasis on wage injustice and left the sentence: “We demand wages that are due to the people.”

“It’s time to pay off this debt that has been going on for too long. If there is productivity, if there is money that can be distributed to shareholders, look at the profits of banks, EDP, Galp – at dividends, at profits. , for the salaries of millionaires, so there must be money for those who work and for those who produce wealth in this country,” he argued.

Returning to the period of invention, Mortagua said that at that time it was proven that “fair wages are good for the entire economy” and recalled the increase in the minimum wage “in spite of all threats”, a decision that improved the lives of the Portuguese. , but this is not enough as it remains low.

“And that is why we are not satisfied with the PS proposal, which sets a minimum wage for 2028 that is even lower than today in Spain,” he warned.

Mortagua promised that “if the left has strength, this will not happen” and returned to the bloc’s proposal to raise the minimum wage, which will be temporarily raised later this year to 900 euros and in subsequent years. the real increase is 50 euros above inflation.

But the BE leader made it clear that she wanted to go further and appealed to young people because “the biggest confidence you can give to a young person in Portugal” is to say “stay” but because they have contracts, career growth and salary that can last your lifetime.

In addition to acknowledging the problem, Mortagua says it is necessary to envisage solutions for the future, given that raising average wages cannot be achieved with words alone and that no one expects the PS to do now what it refused to do in the past. past.

The BE coordinator denies that “Portugal is a country with an outstretched hand” and, defending the rights and solidarity that social support represents, points out that a “decent salary” is what allows one not to need this support in order to have autonomy and freedom .

“Only with the Bloc will there be a solution to raise wages,” he said in a call for a vote that he extended until the 50th anniversary on April 25 so that Portugal could become “a country of true freedom.”