Socialists challenge government to make ‘U-turn’

The Secretary-General of the PS Socialist Party has challenged the government today to “change course”, accusing it of  “driving the wrong way down a motorway at high speed”.

José Luís Carneiro took over the reins of the Socialist Party at a difficult moment (the party had lost legislative elections spectacularly); when no one else wanted the responsibility. He has shown, bit by bit, that he was the man who should have been at the helm before the elections. If he had been, the result would almost certainly have been different.

Today, he is working to reverse what he sees as the government’s “ideological manoeuvres” with far-right CHEGA, that have been ‘distracting the Portuguese public’, but achieving nothing.

“My expectation is that the government will make a U-turn because it has been driving the wrong way down a motorway at high speed for a long time, which can only lead to a bad outcome,” he told journalists clamouring to understand whether there might be a change in relations between the two parties, following the ‘agreement’ over the Single Social Benefit (PSU).

And he highlighted what he sees as the government’s “ideological diversionary tactics”, which have been detracting from the much more important matter of seriously running the country.

“Let me give you an example: you have heard, as I have, of a ‘UFO’ called the Sovereign Fund. That was eight days ago. Have you heard any more about this issue, this topic? Perhaps it didn’t catch on, perhaps it didn’t take root (…) We want people to keep sight of what really matters, and we want policies to do the same, because what really matters today is the cost of living, housing, healthcare, incomes and the economy,” he said.

According to Carneiro, the PS parliamentary group has decided to devote its working days strictly to how it can “tackle the rising cost of living resulting from inflation.

“Reducing IVA to zero on essential foodstuffs, lowering IVA on fuel and also on electricity and gas, as well as supporting farmers and fishermen with their production costs. These are the proposals we have already put forward in parliament, which AD and CHEGA voted against, and we intend to press these proposals once again in parliament; we intend to do so by scheduling a protest session,” he said, adding that he hopes the government will “show awareness and sensitivity towards what truly concerns people in their daily lives”.

“I look forward to the government showing greater sensitivity to these issues. What I see is a government preoccupied with ideological matters, always seeking ways to combat and create ideological divisions, allying itself for that purpose with the far-right party, and truly insensitive to those issues that affect people’s lives,” he said.

Carneiro also emphasised “the importance of the media” in ensuring that “issues that truly matter to people remain on the political agenda and the media agenda”.

“It is very important that the media agenda focuses on what truly matters in people’s lives,” he repeated – otherwise there is the risk of “people becoming disengaged from democracy and democratic values (…) Because they feel that, on the one hand, democracies do not respond to their concerns, and that democracies and their leaders are often distracted by issues that attract the most media attention; yet what attracts the most media attention is not always what meets people’s needs.”

It may sound like a bit of a word salad, but essentially, this was a political message that returns to what people are truly concerned about.

Source: LUSA