SIC commentator Nuno Ramos de Almeida, Martim Silva, from SIC, Cristina Figueiredo, Politics editor at SIC, and Eunice Lourenço, Politics editor at Expresso, analyze and evaluate the performances of candidates Catarina Martins and João Cotrim Figueiredo in tonight’s presidential debate.
Nuno Ramos de Almeida
“None of them were on solid ground. Cotrim Figueiredo insisting that it was possible that NATO was a very strong European pillar, that the United States did not rule it. And Catarina Martins, although saying that the investment in defense was excessive for our possibilities, affirming the need to build a kind of European defense, withoutI need to understand exactly how much money I was going to use to build this European defense. We didn’t notice the big differences.”
Eunice Lourenço
“In general, in the debate – whether in NATO or in the Economy – Catarina Martins and Cotrim Figueiredo are at opposite poles. Each defended what they believe in. I don’t think they managed to reach much beyond their constituencies.”
Cristina Figueiredo
“João Cotrim Figueiredo put some fingers in wounds. It’s not very common to hear with this directness those things that, sometimes, we heard it said among ourselves, at the café tables. But to say publicly, and as President of the Republic, the weakness that the Union European Union has demonstrated regarding NATO, the USA and the issue of Ukraine. (…) Other than that, they were both fine.”
Martin Silva
“The issue of Defense was the point at which I felt that Cotrim Figueiredo can be more comfortable and more attacking. It is the point at which, if we think about a ring, he can touch Catarina Martins into a corner and try to force her to clarify her position in relation to NATO.”
