At a key event addressing territory, local power, agriculture, and maritime sectors, Pedro Nuno Santos conveyed his position this morning, in a session focused on updating the electoral program as part of the Manifesto Legislativas 2025, which the party will present for the anticipated elections on May 18.
Participating in this morning’s session were former government officials such as José Maria Costa, ex-Secretary of State for the Sea and current Socialist deputy, Gonçalo Rodrigues, ex-Secretary of State for Agriculture, João Ferrão, ex-Secretary of State for Planning and Cities, and Rui Gonçalves, ex-Secretary of State for Rural Development and Forests.
“Our country, over decades, has become increasingly coast-centric. We have been losing and continue to lose population across much of the territory. It is paradoxical that a country often lamenting its small size has managed to neglect about 70% of its territory. We have not had the capacity to fully utilize our territory,” stated the Socialist leader.
Pedro Nuno Santos believes a “broad consensus” is needed to start “seriously investing in the interior of the country,” viewing this challenge as a “national development opportunity.”
The PS leader assured that the Socialists intend to reinforce the electoral program presented last year to “improve the political response to the country’s problems,” emphasizing territorial issues as one of the “most decisive themes for national development.”
“Despite these decades, we still have an excessively centralist country, and we will not achieve harmonious development unless we are able to utilize the territory,” he asserted.
The Secretary-General of the PS advocated reviving “old strategies” such as deepening ties with Spain, noting that the interior is closer to Spain than to Portugal’s coast.
Pedro Nuno Santos also highlighted the different challenges posed by climate change across regions, emphasizing the “water issue” in the south and forest fires in central and northern Portugal.
The Socialist leader further discussed the potential of Portugal’s forests, which he believes are underutilized, and emphasized that the country “must have the capability to utilize” and support them with public policies.
“A sector that not only guarantees food sovereignty, a very important economic sector, but also one that we must continue to support to promote greater innovation, greater sustainability in the national agricultural sector, which can be a development hub for the interior, settling qualified young people in the interior of Portugal. Therefore, it is also a sector that must be strongly supported by the State, by us, by public policies,” he added.
