Former BE leader Catarina Martins will be the head of the party’s list in the next European elections.
The announcement was made this afternoon by Mariana Mortágua, on the sidelines of a meeting, in Lisbon, of the National Board of BE.
“Catarina Martins represents the strongest candidacy that the left can present in the European elections and that is why she will be head of the BE list in these elections”, announced Mariana Mortágua at a press conference in Lisbon, after a meeting of the National Board, a maximum between conventions.
When asked about the result of the vote, the coordinator said only that the choice was made “by a very large majority”.
Mortágua highlighted that BE “does not give up on presenting an alternative project”, which “defends the social state, does not give up equality, respect, democracy, labor rights, the environment”.
“This affirmation of the left in Portugal begins in the European elections”, he highlighted.
According to the blocist leader, “the fight against the extreme right takes place immediately in Europe and in the European Parliament”, where it is also necessary to “organize the left” and present a project for a Europe that “does not jeopardize human rights with migration policies and aggressive policies against refugees”.
Mariana Mortágua considered that Catarina Martins “is one of the leaders of the European left with the most experience and most recognition”.
“He knows this country like no one else, its problems, its crises and difficulties, but he also knows like few others the European political context, the functioning of European institutions, the different representatives, protagonists and parties on a European scale. He is a person capable of articulating the left and left-wing parties and movements on a European scale. It has done it in the past, it is capable of doing it in the future”, he highlighted.
In his understanding, “what is being played at the European Championships is also the fight against the extreme right, the affirmation of an alternative project for the left”, and “there is no better person to do this than Catarina Martins”.
The text of the National Board’s resolution states that the party will approve the program for the European elections on April 6th.
Catarina Martins, 50 years old, actress, was elected deputy for the first time in 2009.
From 2014 to 2023 he led BE. It was under his leadership that the blocistas achieved the best result in their history: 10.9%, with 19 deputies elected, in the 2015 legislative elections. Following these elections, the PS, led by António Costa, returned to power, forming the ‘contraption’.
BE currently has two of the 21 Portuguese MEPs elected, being the third largest Portuguese force, after the PS (nine MEPs) and the PSD (six).
