Dating, kisses and pouts, victories and defeats: the PSU still turns its stomach against the opposition

The Single Social Benefit passed in Parliament, but, three days after the vote, the issue remains hot and continues to agitate the opposition. PS and PCP compete for victories, and Ventura leaves a warning: if the AD comes closer to the PS’s vision than to Chega’s, this “obviously has consequences”.

This Sunday, PS, Chega and PCP disputed the political reading that led the socialists to the Government’s proposal, after the understanding between AD and Chega fell apart; a, the State Budget and the unstable relationship between Luís Montenegro and André Ventura were caught in the crossfire.

For the PS, the approval of the PSU and the lead of the labor reform show that the socialists are the “solid, responsible and credible” alternative to the Government.

For Chega, the approval of the PSU proves before that the PS is the real “crutch” from AD. For the PCP, it confirms that the socialists gave a hand to an executive “defeated and isolated“.

“Kisses and pouts”: PS sees dating, Chega sees crutches

At the PS National Commission, in Lisbon, José Luís Carneiro accused AD and Chega of maintaining a “courtship” made sometimes of “kisses”, sometimes of “pouting“.

The socialist general secretary argued that the Portuguese may not follow all the maneuvers between the two parties, but they know that “this Government does not respond to their problems” and that is there an alternative in PS.

On the day he marked one year after your first election As a socialist leader, Carneiro once again presented the PS as a responsible force, capable of putting “the country’s interest” above partisan conveniences.

At the same time, he accused the PSD/CDS-PP executive of fail in the economycompetitiveness, foreign direct investment, in the cost of livinghousing, income and health.

A response from André Ventura appeared at Chega’s national headquarters, also in Lisbon, after voting in the elections for the party’s district in the capital. Chega’s leader rejected the image of dating and returned the accusation: for Ventura, it was the PS that serve as a “government crutch“.

Ventura recalled that it was Chega who prevented the passage of the revision of the labor law in Parliament and accused the socialists of having now carried out, in the PSU, a “exchange of masks” with the PSD. “It wasn’t Chega that exchanged masks with the PSD, it was the Socialist Party,” he stated.

“Defeated and isolated”: PCP accuses PS of saving PSU

On the left, the PCP gave an equally harsh reading of the socialist role. At the end of the Central Committee meeting, Paulo Raimundo stated that the PS decided to lend a hand to a Government “defeated and isolated” to save the Single Social Benefit. For the communist general secretary, this support “does not solve any problem yes PSU”.

Raimundo also criticized the lack of space to discuss the proposal during the parliamentary process and rejected the idea that the central issue is who the Government approaches. The essential thing, he argued, are the consequences of the approved policies.

The PCP leader also rejected the thesis that the Government is simply being pushed by Chega’s agenda.

In your reading, the Liberal Initiative is “the big hare”for providing the background ideological guidance; the Chega plays the role of “can opener“; and the Government implements the policy.

Now about the labor reformRaimundo directly disputed the socialist narrative.

Carneiro claimed victory for the PS of having blocked the “labor counter-reform” and changes in PS measures, which he classified as “profoundly unfair, inhumane”; the communist leader responded that the lead of the labor reform is, above all, “a great victory for workers” and CGTP, with a “hugely important” role for the PCP.

“Stockholm Syndrome”: PS warns that Montenegro will return to Chega

The socialist criticism of the relationship between Montenegro and Ventura went even further through the voice of Charles Caesar. The PS president considered that the fact that the PSD turned to the socialists in the case of the PSU does not represent a substantial change in the government’s political orientation.

In his reading, the PSD/CDS-PP executive lived “under kidnapping from Chega” and was “successively mistreated and deceived” by Ventura’s party. Still, said César, Luís Montenegro reveals that he is touched by “Stockholm syndrome“. “He really likes them, he will ultimately come back to them“, he stated.

Ventura, for his part, left a notice to the Government thinking about the next parliamentary clashes. Before the State Budget, he said, there is “several steps” that could redefine the political space, starting with the review of the decree on the loss of nationality, considered unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court.

If PSD and CDS-PP change their position on this matter, the Chega leader warned, will be getting closer to the PS than to Chega’s vision – and that “obviously has consequences“. Everything the Government does, he added, will be evaluated “when the time comes for the Budget”.

The PSU passed, the labor reform fell, but the opposition remains far from closing the political balance of the week.