In her inaugural address as the new leader of IL at the party’s 10th National Convention in Alcobaça, Leiria, Mariana Leitão criticized the government during the state of the nation debate in the Assembly of the Republic on Thursday, stating that the much-promised change was merely “political marketing.”
“Prime Minister Luís Montenegro again emphasized that the AD on its own cannot bring about any reforms or change to the country,” she stated.
Mariana Leitão stressed that “the time for serious changes and reformist ambition is now, not at the end of the legislative term.”
“The time for bold proposals is now, and so far, nothing has been seen. The so-called tax relief is worth four euros a month. Yet, there is no hesitation in spending 400 million euros on extraordinary expenditure for electoral purposes,” she criticized, referencing the extraordinary supplement proposal for pensioners approved on Friday by the Council of Ministers.
The new IL leader accused the AD of privatizing TAP “to suit Pedro Nuno Santos’ PS,” of continuing the “great promise of changes in health that never materialized,” and in housing, only offering “incentives for demand, without any incentive for construction.”
“The Prime Minister presented a set of measures that seem directly taken from the PS policy manual. Subsidies, checks for this and that, vague promises of public investment, everything but structural reforms, everything but political courage,” she accused.
For Mariana Leitão, “it is a copy of the model already followed by António Costa.”
“It is time for Luís Montenegro to decide if he wants to be António Costa,” she challenged.
However, the IL leader indicated that there have been “poor signals from a government that just a year ago claimed it was going to change” and that at that time did not have a majority, but now “has strengthened it.”
“And yet, it seems nothing has changed. The state of the nation is this: a country exhausted from paying so much and receiving so little, and a government behaving as if it has been in power for ten years,” she accused.
She further remarked that Montenegro is within his rights “to say he wants to govern from the center,” but warned that “the more the center becomes synonymous with inertia, the stronger extremist solutions will become.”
“If more and more moderates are being defeated worldwide, it is because many have folded their arms and insisted on stability without direction. As long as the Portuguese do not see a direction, a path to a better country, they will continue to lean more towards extremism,” she stated.
In this context, Mariana Leitão declared that the IL represents a “genuine alternative” and must “restore the country’s confidence,”
“We are not here just because we disagree with others. We are here because we have an alternative vision for the country,” she declared, adding that the Portuguese expect “more than criticism” from IL.
“They expect vision, courage, a true alternative. That’s what we will deliver,” she promised.
