Nuno Melo spoke at a restaurant in Sintra, a location selected by the centrists to mark the 51st anniversary of the party, founded on July 19, 1974, in a speech where he emphasized the significance of CDS-PP votes for the victory of AD, both in the 2024 elections, the legislative elections this year, and in other elections such as the local ones.
“In that year, CDS did not return to the Government by favor, but through work, by merit, because it matters. And a couple of months ago, that weight was reconfirmed. Indeed, this is an impeccable coalition, a coalition built on loyalty, a coalition where we strive reciprocally to transform Portugal,” defended the National Defense Minister.
According to Nuno Melo, “AD is reformism in action” and is not “here for everything to remain the same,” highlighting the work done under his responsibility at National Defense and also at Internal Administration, where Telmo Correia serves as Secretary of State.
The CDS-PP leader acknowledged that his party does not hold as many portfolios as it did in past governments, but emphasized that this does not prevent it from “influencing policies.”
As per Nuno Melo, “when you look at this Government and what it transforms,” the “marks of CDS” are apparent, starting with immigration, on the day the President of the Republic sent to the Constitutional Court the parliamentary decree that changes the legal regime for the entry, stay, exit, and expulsion of foreigners from the national territory, approved by PSD, Chega, and CDS-PP.
“CDS, I believe, precisely with Telmo Correia, was the first party, in fact, to present a proposal in the Assembly of the Republic for a stricter regime for granting nationality. And today, when nationality law amendments are discussed, this is an area where we see measures aligning with what CDS has always advocated,” he noted.
Nuno Melo continued, emphasizing that “the ideology was removed from school textbooks,” which CDS always supported, as well as the regulation of mobile phone use in schools.
“This is to tell you, my friends, that 51 years later, CDS, in this Government, with some of those who, for many more years, daily strive in parliament and beyond to help change the lives of the Portuguese, continues to make as much sense in 2025 as it did in 1974,” he argued.
On the national level, the centrist leader also highlighted the significance of CDS at the municipal level, contributing through coalitions to “the defeat of the left in some of the main municipalities in Portugal.”
“These municipalities, when votes are counted, are not PSD municipalities; they are PSD and CDS municipalities together, in larger projects, at the service of Portugal,” he praised.
Highlighting the value of the party’s frameworks, Nuno Melo expressed confidence that in October’s municipal elections, “CDS will succeed once more.”
The leader sought to highlight the ideological lines that distinguish CDS from other right-wing parties, stressing that his party wants “a country with less State, fewer taxes, that values families, that ensures more freedom of choice in education, but without forgetting the most vulnerable.”
“CDS is not the market. CDS believes in the virtues of the market. But CDS knows that we are not all born with the same opportunities. And if we work for a market that is effective, that produces wealth, it is because we also want part of that wealth to be redistributed to those who have less. That’s why CDS is not just right; CDS is social right,” he emphasized.
In his address, Nuno Melo did not forget the electoral setback that led to CDS leaving parliament for the first time in its history, in 2022, a year he defined as “one of resistance and reorganization.”
The year 2023, he continued, marked a “cycle of affirmation and growth,” and 2024 “returned CDS to the Assembly of the Republic and the Government of Portugal,” which “was no small feat.”
Furthermore, 2025, besides reconfirming the centrists’ return to the governing circle, will be a year of “an equally important challenge for CDS,” with Nuno Melo quoting Adelino Amaro da Costa: “The municipalities are to CDS what the unions are to the left.”
