SDP president refuses to deviate from ‘those that are important to people’s lives’

The SDP chairman said on Monday that he had given the president of the republic “reasonable grounds” to believe that the party was already an alternative to the government and refused to deviate from “themes that matter to people’s lives.”

At the end of the meeting with the President of the Republic, which concludes this Monday the round of hearings for parties with seats in parliament, Luis Montenegro was asked about the criticism of the position of the PSD regarding the searches of Rui Rio’s house and the party’s headquarters, as well as a request for clarification to the prosecutor’s office, initiated by the Chairman of the Assembly of the Republic.

“We were not distracted by what brought us here today. What brought us here was to assess the state of the Portuguese nation and to give the President of the Republic the opportunity to get acquainted with the position of the PSD on issues that matter to people’s lives,” he said. , two days before the debate in Parliament is precisely about the state of the nation.

The social democratic leader acknowledged that justice is one of these central themes, but said he did not want – “against the backdrop of a regrettable episode” – to hide what he calls “the needs and desires of the Portuguese”, in areas such as health care, education or housing.

When asked if he had already convinced the President of the Republic that the PSD was an alternative to the government – three months after Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that there was still no credible alternative to the PS executive – Montenegro considered that it had done its part .

“Only he can convey the opinion of the President of the Republic, we have given the President a good reason so that, as it already happens with many Portuguese, he can believe that Portugal has an excellent political alternative in front of him, which is led by the PSD,” he said.

Following an hour and a half meeting with the head of state, Montenegro made an extremely negative diagnosis to the leadership of the PS, which he classified as “hopeless”.

“The country has no hope, it has no ambition, but it has opposition and there is an alternative. We are the alternative that wants to give Portugal the conditions to settle for a country that thinks about small things in the coming years, a government that thinks only about tomorrow, ”he criticized.

For the SDP leader, a year and a half after the absolute majority of the PS, “the Portuguese are poorer, have low wages, huge difficulties in accessing public services”, to which he added “clear demonstrations of incompetence”.

“What I want to say to the Portuguese is that in PSD we will not divert attention from the main thing, from the life of every Portuguese, every family, every company,” he assured.

In particular, in the field of health, Montenegro asked the government why the charter of the executive board of the National Health Service (SNS) had not yet been approved one year after the approval of this body.

“I don’t know if the health minister can get along with the chief executive of the SNA or the finance minister, or if he can’t get along with the prime minister,” he said.

Montenegro has extended criticism of the government’s actions to the education sector, sparking outrage at both teaching staff and other professionals and the housing market.

“We are dissatisfied with the thousands and thousands of young people who are not finding employment opportunities in Portugal and are emigrating at the same or greater rate than it was during the Portuguese intervention,” he said, echoing the criticism he made about the use of funds in Portugal PRR for “filling holes in the lack of public investment”.

The PSD leader confirmed that TAP was one of the topics raised at the meeting, without disclosing in what terms, echoing the criticism he had made of the commission of inquiry’s report, which he said was “an exercise worth nothing of -for factionalism, sectarianism” and whitewashing. government actions.

The SDP delegation in Belém, in addition to Luis Montenegro, included parliamentary leader Joaquim Miranda Sarmento and vice-presidents Miguel Pinto Luz, Margarida Balceiro Lopez and Ines Palma Ramalho.