Nuno Violante, the CDU’s candidate for the Leiria municipal elections, criticized the emphasis on big business, highlighting its impact on small producers and retailers.
“We believe the development of the municipality also depends on small producers, and the lack of investment in the Santa Eufémia irrigation, for example, or even in the fields of Lis, is affecting these people. This, along with the focus and constant support on big business and large retailers, also impacts the small traders in the city,” Nuno Violante stated to the Lusa agency.
During the first campaign event of the CDU (a coalition of the Communist Party and the Ecological Party The Greens) at the municipal market, the candidate noted that the municipality has “tens of thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises, many linked to small commerce, which are being ‘abandoned’ for various reasons.”
The lead candidate argued that “the investment in large retail” is a “clear fact in Leiria,” pointing out that whenever a major hypermarket chain expresses desires for “new land, a new building, it appears at great speed.”
“On another note, this ties into other issues like urban planning. When people are moved out of the city, largely due to housing and rent costs, it’s more than evident that small commerce will suffer,” he cautioned.
