Former Bloc leader and current MEP was questioned by journalists at the “Women and Climate” conference in Coimbra about Cavaco Silva’s opinion article published on Thursday in Expresso titled “The Choice of the Next President of the Republic”.
Catarina Martins expressed “two perplexities” in the text, noting “one surprise and one non-surprise”.
“The surprise is a former President of the Republic writing about what the profile of a presidential candidate should be, while a presidential candidate is actively giving interviews in the media, attacking the rule of law, attacking press freedom, attacking workers in Portugal, and about this, Cavaco Silva said nothing,” she criticized.
According to the Bloc member, “the presidential role is primarily to defend democracy, respect for people, and freedom of the press”.
“This fundamental decency was necessary in the article. Cavaco Silva forgot,” she lamented.
The second point she raised concerns the former head of state crafting “an article using his example as a promoter of regime pacts, recalling a regime pact between central bloc parties to remove rights from workers precisely when the Government is attempting labor reform”.
Emphasizing that the change will be “so brutal regarding labor rights,” she argued that “Portugal needs the opposite: respect for workers”.
She stressed the necessity for “better wages and living conditions,” adding that “a President of the Republic should promote solutions that respect those who build the country, rather than regime pacts against workers”.
An article in Expresso also reports that “Aníbal Cavaco Silva advises voters to make a thorough assessment of candidates in the upcoming presidential elections”.
“Respect for the Constitution and democratic procedures, defense of political stability, impartiality and independence from different political forces and government-opposition tensions, sobriety, not fueling political intrigues, and speaking truth to the Portuguese” are among the points highlighted by Cavaco, according to the media outlet.
The candidate for Belém additionally stressed the importance of valuing the local elections scheduled for October 12, suggesting they could be “a path to demand a politics that discusses solutions and people, rather than focusing on itself”.
When asked whether they might have an influence on the presidential elections, she remarked that “they are very different elections”.
“Democracy is quite mature in Portugal,” she emphasized.
