On the occasion of the 52nd anniversary of the foundation of the Socialist Party (PS), Pedro Nuno Santos unveiled a statue of Mário Soares, the party’s founder and former Prime Minister and President of Portugal, in the garden of the party’s national headquarters in Lisbon. The statue is a creation by sculptor Leonel Moura.
In the presence of historical PS figures such as Manuel Alegre, Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, and Alberto Arons de Carvalho, the party’s secretary-general emphasized the importance of remembering the country’s past under the Estado Novo dictatorship at a time when there is much criticism directed towards the last 50 years of democracy.
He described it as a “country with a high illiteracy rate, among the lowest educational levels in Europe, and with healthcare outcomes akin to Third World statistics, especially regarding infant mortality rates.”
In this context, Pedro Nuno Santos addressed the rhetoric of Chega leader André Ventura, who has criticized the last 50 years as a period marked by corruption, a theme highlighted in the party’s electoral posters for the legislative elections on May 18.
“I often hear the far-right leader speak about the last 50 years, and what I feel compelled to ask him, or tell him, is to have the courage and honesty to say he preferred the 50 years before. And explain why he preferred the 50 years before: what did he like about those earlier 50 years? What did those 50 years under the dictatorship offer?” he challenged.
The PS secretary-general recounted that the “only thing” the 48 years of dictatorship remind him of is the “poverty and misery” endured by the “vast majority of the Portuguese people,” along with illiteracy, the absence of a National Health Service (SNS), and “the lack of freedom, democracy, alongside political torture and assassination.”
“I’ve heard some defenders of the old regime tell us, ‘but it saved us from the war.’ When I was a child, I always struggled to understand this because my father was sent to war at the age of 20. He went to Guinea, into the bush,” he stated, emphasizing his constant difficulty in understanding what nostalgists of the Estado Novo could appreciate about the 48 years of dictatorship.
In contrast, Pedro Nuno Santos noted that since the April 25, 1974 revolution, Portugal has accomplished what many countries have not, namely transitioning from a generation with just primary education to one where children earn university degrees, establishing the SNS, providing education to all children, and developing national infrastructure such as highways.
Pedro Nuno Santos acknowledged, however, that there are areas where enough progress has not been made over the last 50 years, specifically mentioning housing. He noted this sector has not seen the same advancements as healthcare, public education, or pensions.
“There is much to be done, and the problem has grown in recent years. Five years ago, we launched the largest public construction program on record in the country. It needs to be intensified,” he stated, also emphasizing that the state must reclaim vacant properties it owns.
Pedro Nuno Santos argued that the PS should continue to have a “vision” for the country, highlighting that Portugal has an “extraordinary potential for development” and should capitalize on its position as a “nerve center” in the data economy due to its geographical location, and also increase renewable energy production.
“We made significant strides after toppling the dictatorship, but many problems remain unsolved, and there is no party in Portugal with the competence, experience, personnel, values, and principles like the PS,” he stated.
