Hugo Soares, who is leading the national local council tour of the PSD due to Luís Montenegro’s participation as Prime Minister at the informal European Council in Copenhagen, spoke at the presentation of municipal candidates in Tavira.
The social-democratic leader reiterated support for the government’s recent housing measures, particularly the tax benefits for rents up to 2,300 euros, a cap criticized by PS leader José Luís Carneiro.
“People who need a 300-euro house should be helped, but shouldn’t we also help those looking for homes and can’t find cheaper options on the market? These are our middle class, our doctors, our nurses, our teachers,” he argued.
Hugo Soares posed a challenge to José Luís Carneiro on this matter.
“Unfortunately, any search on a real estate website – I advise deputy José Luis Carneiro to do the same – if you search on a real estate site in Lisbon or the greater metropolitan area of Porto, you will see that, as absurd as it may seem, a T2 rental today costs 2,500, 2,600, 2,700 euros,” he said.
The social-democratic parliamentary leader acknowledged this as “exorbitant,” necessitating support for the middle class to access housing in major urban areas.
“The middle class in Portugal has always been the great elevator of our society: I’m talking about nurses, doctors, judges, and higher technicians who, in the major metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto, today face difficulties in accessing housing,” he stated.
Regarding Tavira, Hugo Soares praised the PSD candidate — former deputy Dinis Faísca — and highlighted another name from the social-democratic list for the city council, former Chega member Pedro Ferreira.
“We saw the news saying that person A, B, C left PSD to be a Chega candidate,” he noted, arguing that they didn’t leave on conviction but because they “lacked space in the PSD.”
On the contrary, he said, Pedro Ferreira “did not leave Chega because the PSD offered him anything.”
“Pedro knows that to fight for security and ensure respect for our police forces and services, one doesn’t need to speak loudly or indulge in demagogy,” he said, considering him the “little spark” that Dinis Faísca missed four years ago when he lost to the PS by about a hundred votes.
“With Dinis in the City Council, Tavira will even spark,” he wished, improvising a slogan from the market stage.
Earlier, Hugo Soares supported the PSD/CDS-PP candidate in Vila Real de Santo António, writer José Carlos Barros, during interactions with locals, where they encountered nearly as many Spaniards as Portuguese.
Among requests from an elderly lady not to forget low pensions and another woman who addressed him as “Mr. Minister,” the PSD secretary-general also made a prediction for the upcoming Sunday, but not a political one.
“I’m going to tell you something that no one knows yet: Benfica will lose against Porto,” he said to a child who approached him and expressed support for the Luz club.
