Livre approves working group on primaries and wants referendum on regionalization in 2026 – Politics

This Sunday, the 14th Congress of Livre approved 21 of the 25 specific motions presented to congressmen, which include the creation of a working group to improve the primary process and a national referendum on regionalization in 2026.

The result of the specific motions was announced this morning at the 14th Free Congress, which ends this Sunday in the municipal pavilion of Costa de Caparica, district of Setúbal, and out of a total of 25, only four were rejected.

Among the approved texts is a motion that proposes the creation of a working group on the internal process of the primaries, following the controversy generated with the choice of the head of the European list, Francisco Paupério.

“Having as our main motivation the constant search for the system most suited to our vision of the world and politics, we propose the creation of a working group to analyze in depth the processes of previous LIVRE primaries, similar processes in other European parties, as well as use the most up-to-date scientific literature on this matter to prepare a new study on the Livre primaries that will serve as a basis for discussing this topic within the party”, the text reads.

Another of the approved motions, which has deputy Jorge Pinto among its proponents, wants Livre to defend a national referendum on regionalization in 2026 in the Assembly of the Republic.

“The creation of a democratic regional power in mainland Portugal will certainly contribute to renewing the Portuguese democratic system, making it more agile and autonomous to the detriment of the current centralization and hierarchy, creating an intermediate level of political decision-making closer to the territory and the population which horizontalizes and mediates relations between central power and local power”, states the text.

One of the motions approved and most debated on the first day of the main meeting is dedicated to youth, entitled “Paths to reinforce the Active Participation of Young People”.

The text defends the creation of a thematic circle “Youth and Young Policies” that will be dedicated specifically to youth problems with the aim of developing “youth policies” and urges the party’s next leadership, elected this Sunday, to create a National Youth Strategy.

During the debate on the first day, there were those who defended the need for these thematic circles, warning that the extreme right “is in schools every day” appealing to the younger generations to vote, and other activists who considered them unnecessary to debate policies with an impact on young people.

Livre does not have a youth party and the various members who took to the pulpit did not express a desire to create one, rejecting a “pool for the big ones and another for the little ones”.

The motion entitled “National priority: Investing in Public and Cooperative Housing” also saw the ‘green light’, in which it is argued that access to affordable housing “requires continued strong investment over the coming decades in public and cooperative housing to increase the non-speculative housing stock”.

The proponents suggest that Livre negotiate measures in this area with the remaining parties in parliament, namely “the way in which the private sector can participate in the promotion of affordable housing through attractive fiscal mechanisms” and suggest “a housing cooperative program that is more ambitious.”

The congress also approved a text that defends “full equality” in the party, reinforcing “actions for internal accessibility and inclusion that eliminate forms of ableism and gender inequality”.

Sport as a “space for cooperation, inclusion, equality and freedom”, the fight against hate speech, “more ecology in Livre’s political action” or the creation of programs to support the exercise of journalistic activity, are also among the approved themes .