The BE’s National Bureau is meeting today to debate the party’s priorities for the European elections, the conclusions of which will be released at the end of the day by the coordinator, Mariana Mortágua, at a rally with the participation of Catarina Martins.
An official party source told Lusa that the meeting of the highest body between conventions is taking place today and aims to discuss “the Left Bloc’s priorities for the next European elections”.
Instead of the usual press conference, the priorities that emerged from the meeting will be announced at the party’s rally in Lisbon this afternoon.
Entitled “April is in the Street!”, this rally will feature speeches by the BE’s coordinator, Mariana Mortágua, and the party’s list leader for the European elections on June 9 and former coordinator, Catarina Martins.
Catarina Martins’ name was chosen to head the Bloc’s list for the European elections at the last meeting of the party’s National Bureau on March 16.
At the time, Mariana Mortágua considered that Catarina Martins “is one of the leaders of the European left with the most experience and the most recognition”, and that she is the “strongest candidate that the left can present”.
After a decade at the head of the BE, during which she led the party to its best results, but also to one of its worst, in the 2022 legislative elections, Catarina Martins passed the baton to Mariana Mortágua last year at the 13th National Convention.
She was elected to parliament for the first time in the 2009 legislative elections, then as an independent on the BE lists, and was re-elected in the following legislative elections as a militant.
Catarina Martins was coordinator of the BE between 2012 and 2023. In the first two years, she held this position in partnership with João Semedo, in an unprecedented ‘two-headed’ leadership, a model abandoned in 2014, at the following National Convention.
