Pedro Nuno Santos speaks to the country after the new Government takes office

The secretary general of the Socialist Party (PS), Pedro Nuno Santos, accuses Luís Montenegro of having made a speech of “victimization” and “blackmail”, instead of a speech of “action”, at the inauguration ceremony of the new Government.

At a press conference this afternoon, from the party headquarters in Lisbon, the socialist leader highlighted that “it will be very difficult” for the PS to make the State Budget presented by the Government of Democratic Alliance.

It was the first time that Pedro Nuno Santos spoke publicly since the new Executive took office. The socialist leader was, on Tuesday, absent, without any justification, from the inauguration of the new Government. In his inauguration speech, the new prime minister, Luís Montenegro, left a challenge to Pedro Nuno Santos, stating that he should assume which attitude he will adopt during this legislature: democratic opposition or blockade.

Responding to Luis Montenegro this afternoon, the PS leader accused the new prime minister of doing “a speech without ambition, without vision, without design for Portugal”. In the eyes of Pedro Nuno Santos, it was “a speech much more focused on the opposition” than on the country’s problems, a speech to be used “in an electoral campaign”.

“It is not a government of action, it is a government of victimization, of lamentation, of complaints”, said Pedro Nuno Santos.

AD’s “arrogance” and the (non) approval of an OE

Pedro Nuno Santos remembered the election resultsnoting that the difference between the Democratic Alliance and the PS was around 50 thousand votes and just two fewer deputies.

The Democratic Alliance “cannot wait for the PS to give it the majority that the Portuguese people did not give it”, defended the socialist general secretary.

Demanding “respect” by the Democratic Alliance, Pedro Nuno Santos claims to have Luís Montenegro’s inauguration speech was interpreted as “blackmail” against the PS and emphasizes that socialists are not obliged to facilitate a program they disagree with.

“We have to wait for the State Budget, but I say it is practically impossible.”

The socialist leader claims that the new head of government had a speech “typical of right-wing governments”, preparing the ground for the argument that “there is no money”. However, Pedro Nuno Santos claims, what put pressure on the PSD was not the “budget surplus” left by the socialists, but the promises that Luis Montenegro made during the electoral campaign.

“The theory of full coffers was not born with the PS. It was the result of an electoral campaign in which the AD promised everything to everyone”, he said. “Montenegro is preparing political ground to not achieve what it promised.”

Pedro Nuno Santos declared that “if Montenegro’s ‘no is no’ is to be taken seriously, what the socialist leader said on election night must also be taken seriously: the PS “will be opposition”.

The socialist general secretary also noted that he continues to wait for a contact from Luís Montenegro to talk about the approval of an amending budget, noting that it is not only the AD that has expectations in relation to other parties. Pedro Nuno Santos emphasizes that the PS is committed to defending a program and ideology and that “that is the only commitment it will respect in the coming months”.

Trying to prove how there is no way for socialists to approve the State Budget of the Democratic Alliance Government, Pedro Nuno Santos even stated that, “from a programmatic point of view, there are more similarities between PSD and Chega than PSD and PS”.

“The PS’s job is not to support or be the PSD’s cane”, he declared, adding that he is not afraid of “being pushed against him”.

The socialist leader was also, naturally, questioned by journalists about the fact that he had been absent from the Government inauguration ceremonybut declined to explain the reasons for this absence. “I couldn’t be there. Period,” she shot.