Miguel A. Lopes / LUSA
The general secretary of the Socialist Party (PS), José Luís Carneiro
The firm conviction of the PS leader, remember Manuela Ferreira Leite and the stability that depends on Luís Montenegro.
José Luís Carneiro is “firmly convinced” that he will contest legislative elections as leader of the PS, that he will be prime minister and refuses to have an internal opponent because he sees no fundamental differences, welcoming Pedro Nuno Santos “with open arms”.
In an interview with the Lusa agency, the secretary general of the PS welcomes the return of his predecessor Pedro Nuno Santos to parliament, responds to the former minister’s recent Duarte Cordeiro to integrate the party’s bodies and eliminates the idea that an unassumed internal opposition is emerging that could compete for its leadership close to an election.
“I am firmly convinced that I will go to elections and that I will win the elections for Prime Minister”, he emphasizes, clarifying that his conviction is valid for the normal legislative calendar or for a possible anticipation.
About the Pedro Nuno Santos to parliament to resume his mandate as deputy, Carneiro dismisses any discomfort and reveals that he spoke with the former PS leader last week.
“I told him that the we would welcome you with open arms and if he feels good in parliament today, that’s where he should be. He has a mandate, he has legitimacy. What’s more, I hope he feels good”, he states, hoping that his “abilities and political experience are duly valued in parliamentary work”.
The interview with Lusa was carried out even before those with Pedro Nuno Santos, who on Wednesday said he respected José Luís Carneiro more than “tacticians who hide behind the door” waiting for favorable winds to run for party leadership.
Specifically about Duarte Cordeiro, Carneiro expresses “the greater consideration” by his comrades who “have expressed their specific disagreements”.
“Structurally, there is no fundamental divergence. And the proof of this is the fact that we had a Congress that approved by more than 90% the bodies that went to Congress. This is a very strong expression of a broad convergence in relation to the strategy motion”, he says, remembering that he was recently re-elected leader of the PS and again without an opponent.
Asked whether he saw the former minister of Costa’s governments as a internal opponent, the PS leader was peremptory: “not at all, not at all”.
“I didn’t see it now, nor did I see it before, when the first time I invited Duarte, I invited Mariana [Vieira da Silva]António Mendonça Mendes, Fernando Medina, Francisco Assis, Sérgio Sousa Pinto, Ana Catarina Mendes to be at the forefront of the party. ANDTherefore, I never saw this feeling. I saw different options at this stage of people’s lives”, he points out.
Ferreira Milk and suffocation
The PS secretary general accused the Government of “democratic suffocation”, creating “instruments of distraction of public opinion”, not responding to journalists and altering the “composition of the administrative structures of media organizations”, such as Lusa.
“What is happening to the Government is that what was previously applied to the Government [antiga presidente do PSD] Dra. Manuela Ferreira Leite spoke about the PS Government, about democratic suffocation”, he defended.
According to the socialist leader, the Government is seeking to “create instruments to distract public opinion”, such as “foreigners issues”, burqas, or the nationality law, topics “that do not even cross people’s minds in their daily lives”, to “keep the media space occupied”.
“The Government is trying limit media space”, he declared.
“They hold press conferences and do not respond to journalists’ questions. It’s the first symptom. Then, they hire a company that a few days ago had difficulties in England, because after all, this company in England was controlling the opposition and controlling journalists”, he said, in reference to the tool, which the government refused to allow it to be used to classify and monitor journalists and which it classifies as .
Stability and Montenegro
José Luís Carneiro considers that “stability must be an achievement” of the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, and promises reciprocity to the Government in its treatment of the PS, which it refuses to see provoked or disregarded.
The PS leader says that the State Budget for 2027 (OE2027) is still far away and that he will wait for the Government’s position, leaves warnings about the stability and the executive’s relationship with his party and announces the end of the model of letters to the Prime Minister.
“A stability must be an achievement of the prime minister and the government because the prime minister knows the composition of parliament. He knows he cannot ignore the Assembly of the Republic. You have a duty to respect it and you have a duty to build political solidity through parliament”, he warns.
From an Aries perspective, this “it depends more” on Luís Montenegro “than on the opposition”.
“The Prime Minister cannot be permanently counting on the PS’s high sense of responsibility to, at the right time, make its budgets viable. Therefore, it is up to the Prime Minister to work to build this credibility and trust. What has not happened, must be said”, he considers.
After the expectations surrounding the relationship with the Government in the days leading up to the PS congress, the leader of the PS refusal that there has been any “contradiction between the beginning and the end” of the main meeting.
“Depending on how the Government acts, so will the PS. In other words, if the Government provokes the PS, if it disregards the PS, what can it have in response? The same disregard in relation to the dialogue bridges that may be established”, he emphasizes.
