“Admiral Gouveia e Melo, whenever he speaks, tends towards three things: either saying some absurdities, entering contradictions, or generating hasty actions and controversies”, stated Luis Marques Mendes, noting that “these traits are not suitable for someone who wants to be President of the Republic”.
When asked to comment on the content of an interview given by Gouveia e Melo and published in a book, Marques Mendes remarked that “a President of the Republic must be less hasty and possess much higher levels of good sense”.
Luís Marques Mendes was speaking in Lourinhã, in the district of Lisbon, where he visited the fire station and criticized the “poor practice in Portugal regarding fires and the actions of firefighters,” specifically the tendency to only discuss “fires, forest fires, firefighters’ intervention when they occur, typically in August”.
He criticized further, stating that “fires are never spoken of again,” and explained that his visit to the fire department was “precisely to promote education in the opposite direction”.
Marques Mendes emphasized the need to “discuss the reality of fires while preparing for their combat,” in winter and spring, and to “change the incorrect practice of only discussing fires when they happen”.
When questioned about the labor law reform under discussion, Marques Mendes reiterated that no proposal for change has been approved by the Council of Ministers yet, stating that “the union centers CGTP and UGT, which decided to call a general strike, are in their full right”.
“Striking is a right of workers. It is a right enshrined in the Constitution”, he declared.
“I am convinced that, even after the strike, there will be a new period of social dialogue, of social concertation, where the parties will sit at the negotiating table to find the best solutions”, said the candidate, asserting that “a spirit of openness will help resolve” the differences between the union centers and the Government.
If there were already an approved law, “everything would be more difficult because those who approve it do not want to change, retreat, or yield”, he said, noting “an enormous openness to negotiation” and urging the Government and unions to “sit down to negotiate again, even after the strike”.
