“I did not hear [Pedro Nuno Santos’ statements], but I am focused, from the beginning of this pre-campaign, of this electoral process, on continuing to provide the Portuguese solutions to their real problems, which they feel every day and want to see overcome,” stated Montenegro.
“That is what I will continue to focus on,” he reinforced.
Luís Montenegro was speaking to journalists in Funchal before addressing the presentation of the PSD/CDS-PP coalition candidates for the Madeira constituency in the legislative elections on May 18, held at the Mercado dos Lavradores.
This morning, at the Fabrica 2030 conference in Lisbon, Pedro Nuno Santos expressed his hope that “it will not be necessary” to have a parliamentary inquiry committee into Spinumviva.
“I expect that, by the end of the electoral campaign, we can clarify what remains to be clarified,” he said.
In Funchal, Luís Montenegro refrained from commenting and also did not mention the situation in his speech during the presentation session. However, he criticized the current political crisis as stemming from the opposition’s unwillingness to ensure stability in the country.
“We are currently in a political crisis, which will be resolved in almost four weeks, but a political crisis that only exists because the opposition did not want to secure the stability that we achieved with daily work in the Government,” he stated, further emphasizing, “In one year, we had more economic growth than the average of EU countries, we achieved a better budget outcome than most EU countries, and we approved everything essential, including the State Budget.”
The Social Democratic leader, also the Prime Minister of the PSD/CDS-PP coalition government, stressed that the opposition fears the good performance of the government, now in a caretaker capacity.
“We only went to elections because the opposition feared the success of the Government and prioritized its own interests over the people’s interests,” he said.
Claiming that the AD Government achieved more in 11 months than the PS-led governments in eight years, Luís Montenegro listed several measures taken by his administration, such as tax cuts, pension updates, increased medication subsidies, and assured ongoing recovery of the National Health Service and development of measures supporting public schools and mobility.
“There is one thing that needs to be said directly to the Portuguese: we still have a lot of poverty in Portugal. We have about two million Portuguese on the poverty line, and if it weren’t for social benefits, it would be four million,” he stated, adding that “poverty can only be fought by creating wealth.”
“Poverty is not fought as it was in previous years, misleading people and pretending to create wealth,” he warned.
The PSD president, who participated in various pre-campaign activities in Funchal today, highlighted the Madeirans’ attitude in the early regional elections on March 23, which resulted in a victory for the Social Democrats, allowing for a subsequent parliamentary and governmental agreement with the CDS-PP.
“No one better than the Madeirans and Porto-Santenses to tell the whole country how good it is to have stability, how good it is to ensure that the chosen political project is the one that will be realized and materialized,” he said, emphasizing, “People should wake up the day after elections with the government they desired and give that government the conditions to execute its program.”
Luís Montenegro said he now counts on the “strength” of the PSD/CDS-PP coalition list for the Madeira constituency, led by Pedro Coelho, followed by Vânia Jesus, Paulo Neves, Bruno Sousa, Ana Cristina Monteiro (CDS-PP), and Bruna Perry, also emphasizing his reliance on the voters’ confidence.
The archipelago elects six deputies to the Assembly of the Republic, where currently there are three Social Democratic representatives, two Socialists, and one from Chega.
