José Luís Carneiro concluded the rally for the PS candidacy to the Viseu Council, held outdoors at the square of the Igreja de São João Batista in Vildemoinhos. The bell’s chime at 10:00 PM set the tone for the speech: “This bell chime is symbolic; it’s the chime of victory, dear João Azevedo. The time has come.”
The PS leader responded to Luís Montenegro’s remarks this week about the increase in shacks occurring more in socialist and communist councils, issuing a challenge to the PSD president and executive chief.
“I would like to invite Dr. Luís Montenegro to visit Viseu and see the shacks at the motorway entrance exiting the Viseu council. It is inconceivable that they have been unable to resolve an ongoing structural issue from a human development perspective for decades,” he challenged.
Referring to the legislative solutions available since 2021 to address emergency constructions, Carneiro deemed it “incomprehensible not to have a plan to eradicate these precarious constructions” in Viseu.
In a municipality the PS has never won, Carneiro expressed his belief in the “scent of João Azevedo’s victory” and asked voters to trust in the socialist victory in the municipal elections on October 12.
“The future is decided between two options: either you want to look at the past or set your eyes on the future and aspire to a new future,” he emphasized.
The PS secretary-general expressed “clear reasons to believe in the victory of PS and João Azevedo.”
“I know that in a council where so many historically voted for a particular party, change can be hard, but you can change, you can trust in change, believe in change,” he urged.
Carneiro also made promises should he become Portugal’s prime minister: “Viseu will be one of those great centers of economic development in our country.”
“We advocate for continuing the planning study for the railway connection between Aveiro, Viseu, and Salamanca, which should be a fundamental axis of this development project,” he added.
The subject of the IP3 also featured in the PS secretary-general’s speech.
“If today some enjoy talking about the IP3 works, they should remember and apologize to the Socialist Party governments as it was the PS Government that secured the funding to unlock this infrastructure project in Portugal and brought it to material execution in this region,” he insisted.
