Rui Rocha considers poverty in Portugal to be one of the “most glaring failures” of the PS.

The President of the Liberal Initiative (IL), Rui Rocha, said this Wednesday that poverty in Portugal is a serious problem and one of the “most glaring failures of the PS”.

“Poverty is one of the most glaring failures of recent decades, a failure of the PS, especially and above all since it has been in power for 21 years in the last three decades, so this clearly demonstrates the failure of the PS to ensure that the Portuguese society and economy is a society and economy of opportunity “, the liberal leader said at the end of a meeting at the União das Misericórdias in Lisbon, on the fourth day of official campaigning for March snap elections.

After a meeting that lasted about an hour, Rui Rocha said that the country already has 10% of working people who are poor, in other words, work is no longer enough to fight poverty.

There are also indicators that suggest it often takes five generations to break out of the cycle of poverty, he stressed.

The IL leader emphasized that having children in Portugal is one of the ways to reach a situation of poverty, since it involves increasing expenses in an environment of low wages and purchasing power, so it is a difficult decision for many families.

That’s why IL offers a kindergarten voucher worth €480 per child per month, so families can choose a public, private or social kindergarten.

Another problem that contributes to the increasing incidence of poverty in Portugal is the cost of health care for families, and to reverse this situation, Rui Rocha proposes to provide a family doctor for pregnant women, children under nine years of age and for people over 65 years of age.

“It is desirable that we have a family doctor for everyone as soon as possible, but immediately these groups should use the services of a family doctor,” he stressed.

And in this aspect, Misericiones can make a big contribution because they have installed capacity, quality of service and cost advantages, as you can imagine.

In his opinion, charity and the social sector can also begin to solve problems in the field of housing through state-social partnership.

According to the Liberal leader, without the social sector, many aspects and services that are the obligations of public services would not be fulfilled today, and Portugal would have even more elderly people living in poverty and abandoned, as well as more sick and disabled people without solutions .

“Today, if there are so many Portuguese who do not have medical care, if so many Portuguese who do not have a family doctor, then this is, and it must be said, solely due to the ideological blindness of the PS and the party, which during this thing invested in decisions that were possible, I repeat, because of ideological blindness,” he concluded.