OLIVIER HOSLET/EPA
The Portuguese Minister of Defense and president of the CDS-PP, Nuno Melo.
The Congress begins in Alcobaça with strong internal opposition. Nuno Melo refuses to make the PSD the enemy in the face of warnings of the “risk of dilution” that the AD brings.
Nuno Melo arrives at 32nd CDS Congressin Alcobaça, as a candidate for a third term in leadership, but he does not arrive without internal contestation. Despite the president presenting himself with the argument of the party’s political recovery since 2022, when the CDS was out of the Assembly of the Republic and many anticipated its disappearance, there are voices in the party who question the direction followed and the loss of its own identity in the coalition with the PSD.
The main criticism of Nuno Correia da Silvaformer deputy and candidate for leadership, who accuses the CDS of having little presence on the ground and of not making its influence felt in governance.
For Melo’s opponent, the party must once again assert itself among its traditional bases — namely pensioners and taxpayers, to the Renaissance — and recover the flags of Christian democracy: the presence of the CDS in governments does not translate, politically, into anything in the eyes of the country.
Filipa Raimundo, co-author of the book Brief History of the CDS-Partido Popular, also believes that the Congress will be much more than an election of the party president: it will be an in-depth discussion about its positioning, she tells , where she confesses that, for the CDS, “the Democratic Alliance appears to be simultaneously a condition for survival and a risk of dilution”.
Popular Youth also takes to congress a motion on a global strategy critical of the current administration. The youth structure led by Catarina Marinho considers that the Political Commission’s political intervention was limited and argues that the Portuguese should better understand what distinguishes the CDS from the PSD within the Government. The motion points out the absence of a structured party agenda and challenges the party to prepare to, in the future, compete autonomously in legislative elections. “The CDS must clearly assume the objective of preparing itself to run autonomously in legislative elections”, reads the motion cited by RR.
In response to criticism, Nuno Melo rejects the idea of turning PSD into an opponent and warns that such a strategy would only benefit the PS and Chega. For the current leader, the coalition has allowed the CDS to return to the center of political life, integrating the Government of the Republic, regional governments and several relevant authorities, including Lisbon and Porto. But he also admits that the party needs to gain “muscle” and reinforce its presence.
The president of the CDS-PP once again reinforced this Saturday that his opponents are socialism and populism, separating himself from factions that want to “fight the partner” PSD.
“There may be those who understand that by making the PSD the adversary and helping socialism and populism, they are beating their chest and bringing a great service to the country”, said Nuno Melo to emphasize that this will not be the path he will defend in the party Congress.
“What would deeply abnormal it would be in a coalition to have the CDS fighting its partner [o PSD]stated the party president in statements upon arrival at Congress.
For Nuno Melo, the CDS arrives at Congress this Saturday “much better than it was in Guimarães”, [onde foi eleito, em 2022] and, in these two days of work, he will propose to congressmen “the continuation of this path [que foi feito] which returned the center-right political space to power, the CDS also to parliament, in an effort that has transformed everyone’s lives for the better”.
“We are an active part of the coalition”
The parliamentary leader of the CDS-PP also rejected the idea of “fusion or dilution” with other parties and guaranteed the “full affirmation of the centrists” who are not limited to the coalition, considering that “the AD reforms are CDS reforms”.
“We are not exhausted in the coalition, as some say, but we are an active part of this coalition and when some choose to talk about dilution or merger with other parties, how is it possible to consider or consider the merger of the CDS with other parties? How ugly! What an uglier idea!”, criticized Paulo Núncio in his speech on the first day of the congress.
From the perspective of the parliamentary leader of the CDS-PP, the future of the party “relies on the affirmation of authenticity and individuality”.
“The CDS’s affirmation involves reformism. And the AD’s reformism is the CDS’s reformism. The AD’s reforms are CDS reforms”, he argued, then going on to five examples of “parliamentary reforms” in which he says that the CDS “had an active participation”.
Paulo Núncio’s list of “CDS reforms” includes the reduction of IRC, “rigour in immigration”, increase in lower pensions for “those most in need”, more “housing offer” and “valuing and dignifying our Armed Forces”, taking advantage of this moment to praise the work of the party president, Nuno Melo, as Minister of National Defense.
“This is precisely what we are doing in this Government. We are in AD to carry out reforms. We are in AD to reform the country”, he emphasized.
The centrist deputy also presented accounts about the parliamentary group he shares with João Almeida, with “more than 80% of the initiatives” they presented having been approved.
“In the last two years, we voted more than 100 times differently than our coalition partner, which is absolutely normal in a coalition of two different parties, but which, throughout their history, have known how to join forces, form coalitions, govern the country and respond to the structural challenges of our country,” he said.
Therefore, for Paulo Núncio, “neither dilution nor fusion”.
“Affirmation and full affirmation of the CDS. It is in Parliament that the CDS most asserts its identity”, he insisted.
In congress, Melo must also insist on , defending the revocation or revision of the preamble of the Constitution. The proposal appears as one of the political flags that the leader intends to use to reaffirm the ideological profile of the CDS.
