This morning in Leiria, seated in the cockpit of a race car, Pedro Nuno Santos responded to the campaign slogan of the Liberal Initiative (IL) — “accelerate Portugal” — by saying that Rui Rocha, the party’s leader, “accelerates straight into a wall.”
Reacting to these remarks, Rui Rocha countered during a visit to a clothing company in Mangualde, Viseu, asserting that it is Pedro Nuno Santos who bears “full responsibility for steering Portugal into multiple walls.”
“In housing, he failed, plunging it into a deep crisis. As Minister of Infrastructure, he hit a wall, but it’s the only wall because we lack roofs, foundations, doors, windows since we have no houses. Pedro Nuno Santos promised housing to the Portuguese, yet they never materialized,” Rocha criticized.
Regarding railways, Rocha labeled Pedro Nuno Santos’ track record as “another failure.”
“Another wall. After years in the Ministry of Infrastructure, he left behind just one more kilometer in operation than when he started, and this region [Viseu] knows that all too well because we’ve been waiting for years longer than anticipated for these lines to be renovated,” he stated.
The IL leader remarked that “the walls Pedro Nuno Santos encountered were of his own making.”
“He crafted the conditions under which he cannot be Prime Minister, as he was not a successful Minister of Infrastructure,” he added.
Rocha jovially noted that today saw reactions from two Pedros to IL’s messages: Pedro Passos Coelho spoke about the need for reformism, while Pedro Nuno Santos addressed IL’s slogan.
“Ideas have a way of reaching their destinations; we are already influencing Portuguese politics,” he quipped.
Asked if he believes Pedro Nuno Santos’s attacks stem from unfavorable polls for the Socialist Party (PS), Rocha stated that it appears evident as he accuses the left of spending more time “conjuring phantoms and attacks” than presenting solutions.
“We cannot continuously lament the nation’s inability to reach prosperity levels while perpetually adopting the policies advocated by Pedro Nuno Santos and the left, which have, since the April 25 Revolution, failed to reduce poverty, foster prosperity, ensure autonomy, or grant people the freedom to make their own choices,” Rocha argued.
The IL leader expressed contentment seeing polls indicating his party “is growing” and that their “message is resonating.”
After visiting a company where employees earn just above the national minimum wage, Rocha highlighted the business sector as requiring reform to establish a “more favorable environment with less bureaucracy, lower taxes, and fewer penalties for progress and growth.”
“It is clear that IL does not aspire for a country of minimum wages; we aim for a country of maximum wages. Therefore, it’s crucial to reform the nation, creating conditions for these enterprises to thrive,” he stated.
On specific measures, Rocha particularly advocated for a “progressive reduction of local taxes” and “autonomous taxations,” noting there remains “much to be done in process simplification, debureaucratization, and fostering favorable tax conditions” so that businesses “can grow.”
