Passos Coelho: “I know everyone: the people in politics want to find jobs for their friends”

Chega’s idea of ​​lowering the retirement age is “absurd and unrealistic”. The Government has taken “too long” to show results.

Pedro Passos Coelho was the protagonist of a closed-door intervention for students at Nova SBE (Faculty of Economics at Universidade Nova de Lisboa), on “Portugal and the Future”, this Tuesday.

According to reports to Lusa, he left comments and criticisms on various subjects, including the current Government.

For the former prime minister, the PSD/CDS-PP government has taken “too long” to show resultspointing out the attempt to reform labor law as an exception.

“But she appeared very isolated, alone, poor thing. And when you appear very alone and you need to negotiate, you can only negotiate inside,” she stated.

On this topic, the former PSD leader criticized Chega’s position, who admitted that he would only make the government’s proposal viable in parliament if he accepted it.

“Beyond the absurd e unrealism – which shows excessive populism -, I have been advocating for the PSD to seek the majority it doesn’t have, with IL and Chega, which are non-socialist parties… When things take on this character, I ask: are they non-socialist? Not even socialists have the courage to lower the retirement age,” he said.

What do politicians want?

Passos Coelho once again warned about the problem of the sustainability of social security which, he considered, no one wants to face.

He also left words about the integration difficulties of many – who live “in servitude” in Portugal.

Passos criticized the current young IRS model, which he classified as “inequitable”, leaving advice for younger people take charge of their future if they want real changes in the country.

Because politicians have other priorities, he warned: “The people in politics will not deal. I know them all. Most of the malta which is in policy wants to be there. Do you want to do like Dr. Antônio Costa, manage day-to-day life. Get jobs for friends. Place supporters. Control. Command, be obeyed. Why? Because that is the nature of power.”

Future

During almost two hours of questions and answers, Passos Coelho was asked about his political future, reiterating that “I’m not looking for anything” and that it would be “a bad sign” if they had to “search for it”, even revealing a conversation he had with the current prime minister in the summer of 2023.

At the time, he said, it was said that the alternative to Luís Montenegro would come either through him, Passos, or through the mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas.

“It was me and Moedas – it had only appeared recently, here in the capital, now it will be a little more used, but at the time, it wasn’t”, he said ironically.

The former prime minister confessed that this conversation until the irritated, having left advice to the then opposition leader Luís Montenegro.

“It’s very simple: be competent and deal with the matter. If they are competent and deal with the matter, no one will be worried about either Moedas or Passos Coelho”, he said.

Faced with the students’ insistence on a possible candidacy for political functions, Passos reiterated his lack of interest in the position of President of the Republic.

“It’s not that I couldn’t do it, but just thinking that I would be there for five years was something horrible (…) Heading a government was different, because I would know what to do”, he said,

Even so, he considered that “the country has changed a lot” since he left these roles in 2015, and that “there are people who may have a greater advantage in being able to play this role”.

“If, by chance, I come to do it, it is because everything else has failed. Not a good signit’s because they had to go to the trunk, get an old guy to deal with the matter”, he said.

Still, he made a point of saying that it did not close “any door to the future”.

“I know that a lot of people would be delighted if I said: I guarantee you, I will never run again. Like, like Professor Marcelo, not even if Christ comes down to earth. I don’t say anything like that, but I don’t think it’s likely to happen,” he said.

For Passos Coelho, it is likely that the PSD and the current prime minister remain in power for a few yearsbut said he didn’t know “what will happen in two, four or six years”.

“Only a fool would waste time thinking about these things. I don’t waste time thinking about it”, he said.