“It is very comforting for me to return to Nazaré and feel that the wave is growing. Feeling that we are moving towards forming a big wave, a wave in the style of Nazaré, so we can win the upcoming local elections and return the leadership of this municipality to the PSD,” he declared.
Luís Montenegro arrived in Nazaré with some delay due to the Council of Ministers meeting in Lisbon, which sped up his interactions with the seaside population alongside the PSD-backed candidate, the independent Serafim António Silva.
In remarks to journalists, who wanted to question him on current issues such as the situation of Portuguese activists detained in Israel or the unauthorized passage of U.S. aircraft through the Lajes, the PSD leader insisted on making a preliminary point.
“First of all, I want to greet this reunion in the local election campaign in a land where we present a very strong candidacy to reclaim the presidency of the Nazaré City Hall,” he stated cheerfully, also acting as prime minister.
Montenegro, who returned today to the PSD campaign after two days absent due to his schedule as prime minister in Copenhagen, expressed that he feels “the campaign has been unfolding with a growing wave.”
“Inspired by the natural beauty of Nazaré and its famous waves, we will renew our approach spirit in this final week: the final stretch of the local election campaign has been unfolding with great enthusiasm on the streets and with a very positive outlook in terms of results,” he stated.
From the candidate in Nazaré, he immediately received a notebook with various demands, jokingly saying, “They say there are no free lunches, and there’s no doubt.”
To the entrepreneur, Montenegro admitted that “it is not the Government that will do everything alone” in areas such as health, education, or housing, but he argues that his government has created all the conditions for municipalities to develop their projects.
“Upon reaching the government, one of the first decisions we made was to unlock all candidacy processes, particularly within the PRR (Recovery and Resilience Plan) framework for investments in schools,” he stated.
Montenegro criticized the previous PS government, saying those processes “were stalled and prioritized not based on urgency but on the timing they appeared in the Ministry.”
“A coincidental circumstance occurred, where the first hours were all taken up by Socialist-run Chambers, who were more attentive that day,” he noted.
However, he conceded that part of the responsibility will lie with the municipalities, particularly concerning housing.
“Serafim, it is not due to a lack of availability that Nazaré does not have projects to solve the housing problem (…) But it is necessary for local municipalities within the territory to also do their part: because I cannot point a gun at people to get them to build houses in Nazaré,” he admitted.
In Nazaré, the current PS president, Manuel Sequeira, is not running for re-election (after replacing Walter Chicharro a year ago, who was subsequently elected deputy), and the Socialists are betting on João Formiga, the president of the Nazaré Parish Council.
