Marcelo “raised a fair topic in the wrong way”. Catarina Martins regrets Portugal’s lack of dialogue “with its own history” and criticizes the “victimization of the Government”

In an interview with CNN Portugal, the head of the Bloco de Esquerda list for the European elections spoke about the current state of national and European politics

Catarina Martins, Bloco de Esquerda candidate for the elections, considered that “the President of the Republic raised a fair issue in the wrong way” when talking about the need for historical reparations to former colonies.

The blogger recalled that “Portugal has already made historical reparations”, giving the example of the Sephardic Jews. In an interview with CNN Portugal, she recalled that historical reparations are a “trend” across Europe.

“There is so much repair to be done even in the national territory itself, so that everyone has living conditions”, he said, remembering all those who came to Portugal during the decolonization period, some of them remaining among the most fragile in society.

Catarina Martins defended the need to discuss the issue of reparations to former colonies “serenely”.

“I don’t think Portugal needs reconciliation [com as ex-colónias]. There are problems, imbalances, inequalities that need to be addressed and reacted to. I don’t think it’s a bad thing that there are processes, as there are in other European Union countries, for example, in which scholars of culture, archeology and museology from various countries come together. And they try to understand which cultural objects are in one country or another and should be in their countries of origin”.

The candidate gave the example of the National Museum of Denmark, which has a “historical reparation wing”, thus taking on “the crimes it committed while it was a colonial power”. “Portugal does not have this type of dialogue with its own history”, she added.

Government with “victimization strategy”

Catarina Martins considered that parallels cannot be drawn to the national reality of the results on June 9th.

“I don’t think the PSD is under stress in its governance because of the result,” he said.

For the head of the European blocist list, the “PSD had a strategy at the beginning of its mandate, which seems wrong to me. More than having a proposal, it was opposing the opposition. It’s a victimization strategy.”

“The government is very committed to trying to prove that it has obstacles, more than committed to creating solutions”, he added. And he gave the example of the solidarity supplement for the elderly to reinforce the idea: Parliament is “approving, without the PSD, the very promises that the PSD made in the electoral campaign”.

Regarding the PS and Chega votes in the same direction, classified by the executive as “negative coalitions”, he argued that “coalitions are positive when they serve the country’s interests”. Still, he did not fail to remember Chega’s increasing changes in position. To conclude: “a stopped clock is also right twice a day”.

“Fighting the extreme right”

Catarina Martins admitted her desire to keep the two Left Bloc deputies in the European Parliament, insisting that the objective is “to have the best result we can have”.

Speaking to CNN Portugal, the former leader of the Bloco de Esquerda expressed fears of the growth of the extreme right in these European elections. Of course, the result of the extreme right in Portugal and the rest of Europe worries the entire left. I would say more than the left, anyone who thinks that human rights are a good thing and who realizes that the politics of turning one against the other does not bring anything good to anyone,” she said-

For Catarina Martins, the best way to “combat the extreme right” is to “present projects that mobilize people”. “It uses unresolved problems in society to create controversy. They tell lies that outrage people to create controversy”, she added.

“It is by debating these proposals that have to do with people’s lives that we can counter what is actually rubbish, is rubbish, and provokes outrage. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t say anything about how we’re going to live tomorrow,” she said.

Europe with “credibility problem” and looking for “nuclear conflict”

Catarina Martins argued that the European Union currently has “an international credibility problem”, with “different criteria” for “similar situations”, in reference to the different stances towards Russia and Israel.

“Whoever is proposing European troops in Ukraine must say what they want”, he added, regarding the intentions of countries like France and Germany to send troops to Ukraine. This, he argued, “means NATO troops, an escalation of the conflict”.

“Anyone who thinks that the conflict in Ukraine can be resolved through military means” “either wants the complete destruction of Ukraine or wants a nuclear conflict”, he concluded.