The president of the Socialist Party (PS), Carlos César, confirmed that the socialists will contribute as “the most voted opposition party, to ensure the Government is a good Government,” following the inauguration of the new Executive on Thursday.
“The responsible response of a party like the PS is to immediately hope that the mandate of this Government achieves successes that positively reflect on the lives of the Portuguese people. We will contribute as the opposition party, as the most voted opposition party, so that the Government is a good Government, and so that the merit of the opposition in its ability to assess the Government’s mistakes is decisive and contributes to these good results,” he stated during a press conference.
César also referred to the words of the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, “who made a historical overview with which one [cannot] disagree.”
“We know the difficulties that political forces within our family face today throughout Europe and across the world. We believe it is important to respond to all this selfishness and violence that is verbalized and practiced in many countries around the world. It is important for there to be a humanist response, focused on people’s rights and the pursuit of equality, and we will make our effort to find this response for our country,” he added.
The PS president further noted that Prime Minister Luís Montenegro provided a “list of sectors and subsectors to which the Government must pay attention,” while emphasizing that “this is the same Government that has been in place for a year and has not made a single reform remembered in any of the sectors it had the merit of winning.”
It is recalled that the snap legislative elections on May 18 were called by the President of the Republic following the fall of the previous PSD/CDS-PP minority Government on March 11, due to the rejection of a motion of confidence.
The motion of confidence presented by the Government was rejected in Parliament with votes against from PS, Chega, BE, PCP, Livre, and PAN during a political crisis stemming from a family business of the prime minister, Spinumviva, which has since been transferred to his children.
