Former Secretary-General of the Socialist Party (PS), Pedro Nuno Santos, expressed criticism on Friday over the government’s decision to propose the repeal of the provision for leave due to gestational mourning, labeling it as “pettiness, insensitivity, and ignorance”. This marked his first political statement on social media since leaving office.
In a note shared on Instagram, Pedro Nuno Santos emphasized that the government aims to repeal the rule which “grants the right to three days of leave for gestational mourning, arguing that its repeal results in a more favorable regime for the pregnant woman”.
“Well, it results in nothing because that regime already exists in the law. What they are doing is ending the possibility for the mother and father to take three days for gestational mourning when it doesn’t justify the mother taking leave for pregnancy interruption,” stated the socialist.
Highlighting that, for the father, the government claims that “the repeal of the rule (also) results in a more favorable regime for the pregnant woman’s partner” because he can enjoy “the right to leave to care for a family member,” Pedro Nuno Santos reiterated that, “like in the mother’s case, for the father as well it does not result in a more favorable regime because the family care regime already exists and, by the way, it can involve loss of wages”.
“And why is it in the father’s case referred to as ‘family care’? Does the father not suffer from the interruption of a desired pregnancy? Doesn’t he have the right to mourn?” he questioned, considering “this repeal is merely a reduction of rights”.
“The Right should not boast about family matters, because in reality, they do not care about families or the suffering they endure when there is a gestational loss”, he declared.
It’s important to note that the issue is the repeal, proposed by the government in the draft labor reform announced last Thursday, of the provision for leave due to gestational mourning, currently three days without loss of entitlement, adding to the leave for pregnancy interruption the regime of leaves for family care.
The office of the Minister of Labor clarified today that the government does not intend to eliminate the leave for gestational mourning, guaranteeing that all pregnant women “retain and even increase their rights” in the labor legislation reform.
Lusa | 23:58 – 25/07/2025
However, it wasn’t just the government’s decision that prompted Pedro Nuno Santos to return to social media. On Sunday, he reacted after the announcement that the European Union (EU) and the United States reached a trade agreement that includes the imposition of 15% tariffs on European products.
For the socialist, the “EU suffered a colossal defeat in the negotiations on trade tariffs between the EU and the USA,” emerging “humiliated, with an agreement that harms European industry”.
“This is a political and economic defeat for the EU leaders, but the ones who lose are the workers and the European industry. Defending Portugal and the Portuguese implies adopting a critical stance towards the political fragility that the EU is revealing, not submissive silence”, he remarked.
