Former Social Democratic Party (PSD) minister and leader addressed the International Club of Portugal in Lisbon, presenting a national outlook filled with “hope and confidence.”
Discussing the current political climate, the presidential candidate noted potential risks.
“Nowadays, in Portugal and abroad, radicalism is trending. This may be fashionable, but it’s not the culture the country needs. The country doesn’t need more radicalism,” he stated.
Instead, the presidential hopeful argued, Portugal “requires moderation, tolerance, balance, common sense, and experience to build bridges, agreements, and convergences.”
The former minister from the governments of Cavaco Silva and Durão Barroso pledged that, if elected head of state, he would focus on a “project of state transformation and societal transformation.”
He emphasized that achieving this goal requires the President of the Republic to facilitate “bridges, convergences, and agreements.”
Citing an example, he highlighted the need to “attend to economic justice.”
“Citizens and businesses know it’s a calamity. Years and years waiting for a decision. This is the opposite of justice,” he lamented, while criticizing the actions of António Costa’s socialist governments and the first government of Montenegro in this area.
Marques Mendes also warned about the need to “attend to the state’s image and functions.”
“The state has mainly failed in an area that’s only discussed during a tragedy: regulation. The state focuses on construction and investment, but generally doesn’t regulate public works or other sectors,” he noted.
The former PSD president described regulation as “the poor relation of the state’s mission—it cannot be so.”
“We all say this when the bridge at Entre-os-Rios collapsed or during the Pedrógão Grande fires and now with the Glória elevator tragedy. It seems that tragedies are the only times we remember the need to invest in regulation. We cannot continue this way,” he highlighted.
If elected President of the Republic, Marques Mendes promised to promote “this debate, reflection, and decision-making” to enhance the state’s regulatory role.
