Rui Tavares accuses the government of “moral and ethical disorientation”

Livre MP Rui Tavares warned this Sunday that democracy is going through difficult times and accused the Social Democratic executive of “moral and ethical disorientation” due to its stance towards the far right.

At the end of the 14th Congress of the Livre, in the municipal pavilion of the Costa de Caparica, municipality of Almada, Setubal district, Rui Tavares, re-elected to the leadership of the party on a list with 61% of the votes, warned of the danger of the extreme right and the need to preserve the democratic regime.

“We will not respond to the authoritarian, personalized, pseudo-charismatic, but more chromatic than charismatic leadership style of the far right across Europe with the same culture and leadership ethic. Democracy is going through difficult times, and these are times when it is important to raise the level of democracy, to strengthen the ability of democracy to be sustainable,” he urged.

Listing the gypsy community, “racialized communities,” women or the LGBTQIA+ community, Tavares warned: “Everyone is interested. Either we all get away with it, or no one gets away with it.”

Before congressmen, Rui Tavares said that the political calendar only calls for legislative elections in 2028, but they could be postponed given the “complete disorientation” of the leader of the PSD/CDU-PP minority executive, Luis Montenegro.

According to Rui Tavares, the government has shown “political disorientation” and a “lack of capacity” for what it wants to do, in addition to changing “the logo and firing some people and then making up excuses to do this or that.”

“But above all, the moral and ethical disorientation is how the right, which, despite everything, founded April 25, should distance itself and clearly break with the far right,” he accused.

In a short speech lasting about 15 minutes, leaving the stage to the leader of parliament and the number one on the list to win the most seats in the new leadership, Rui Tavares stressed that in difficult times, “great firmness of principle is needed.” , but great potential for dialogue” and pointed to the upcoming challenges of elections in Madeira and the European Parliament, achievements that Livre aims to achieve for the first time.

At the beginning of his speech, Rui Tavares congratulated the parties present at the congress, including right-wing forces such as the Liberal Initiative, but above all the forces of the “left and progressivism,” saying that they are “on the same side to turn the political cycle of this country “

Despite acknowledging that parties have “moments of competition” during electoral moments, Tavares took the opportunity to insist on moving leftward to the leaders of the PS, BE and PCP: “But if we believe in leftist values, it is more about cooperation than competition.”

Tavares pointed to the party’s “José Tengarriña Center for Political Studies” as a structure for possible training of Livre employees and recalled that local elections are scheduled for 2025, which provides an opportunity for the party to expand.

And if there are forces that “want to polarize society into progressives and conservatives,” Tavares left a warning: “We are progressives, we work with progressives and we will defeat conservatives,” he guaranteed.

Speaking within the party, after a congress marked by some internal divisions, Tavares stressed that the party “needs everyone” and that its work is never the work of “one elected representative,” “a single deputy,” or “a parliamentary group.”

Shortly afterwards, parliamentary leader and elected director of Livra, Isabel Méndez López, took the floor, emphasizing that the party was experiencing its “best moment in history”, but the country and Europe were not.

The MP left specifications for the next two years with proposals such as taxing “mega-wealths” at global, European and national level, eradicating poverty as a structural phenomenon, increasing family benefits or creating a system of “mega-wealths” at global, European and national level. social heritage,” which Livre wants to see explored.

One of Livre’s flagships is the four-day workweek, which “at the party’s proposal” began a pilot project in the private sector in 2023 and which Livre now wants to extend to the public sector.

Isabel Méndez López believes Prime Minister Luis Montenegro is “failing the country” and acting “irresponsibly” by not “continuing to test” the project in light of the positive results.

The parliamentary leader also warned the minority executive that the extension of the National Rail Pass was one of the measures approved in this year’s government budget and that “the law must be respected.”