PCP accuses PS of being jealous of “marriage between PSD and Chega”

The PCP's general secretary accused the PS this Sunday of being "jealous of the marriage between PSD, CDS, IL and Chega", asking it not to want to be "the bride", but to fight the current policy.

In a speech after a luncheon to present local government candidates in São Domingos de Rana (Cascais), Paulo Raimundo considered that the country is “held in check” and that the Government is implementing an “anti-popular policy,” using the far-right as a “can opener” to clear the way.

"In the face of all this, we have a PS that presents itself as truly jealous of the marriage between the PSD, the CDS, the IL and Chega," accused the PCP secretary-general.

Paulo Raimundo argued that what is needed is not a PS that is “jealous of this marriage that is underway,” but a PS that decides to “oppose, fight, and confront this policy.”

"That was necessary, that was what was needed, but that's not what's happening. The Socialist Party wants to be the bride of this policy, and that's not what matters; that's not what serves our people," he stated.

In this speech, Paulo Raimundo harshly criticized the government's policy, addressing in particular the draft labor reform approved this Thursday by the Council of Ministers.

For the PCP's general secretary, this is a "declaration of war on workers and, in particular, on youth", and will result in adding "more precariousness" to the already "brutal precariousness".

Paulo Raimundo stressed that, through labor reform, the government wants to add "more hours, more working time and more deregulation of schedules," in addition to wanting to accentuate "attacks on the rights of those who work and, in particular, and symbolically, the right to strike."

"You could say: the government won't change the right to strike. It's true. The right to strike remains. People just lose the right to strike. Thank you very much for the privilege you're trying to offer us," he quipped.

In a call for mobilization against this reform, Paulo Raimundo warned that opposition to the measure “will not go there with warnings,” nor with: “hold me back or I’ll come after them.”

"The red lines were crossed a long time ago. This is happening in an organized way, with the struggle of workers for their rights, their desires, and the better life to which they are entitled," he said.

Paulo Raimundo expressed his conviction that workers “will not allow this Government, nostalgic for the 'troika', to implement the measures that it was unable to implement during the 'troika' era”.

Then, Paulo Raimundo addressed the recent appointment of Álvaro Santos Pereira as governor of the Bank of Portugal, stating that the executive made the announcement “with great pomp and circumstance” when it is “only and solely” appointing “a new employee of the European Central Bank (ECB)”.

“No more, no less: a lackey of the ECB, an employee of the ECB, incapable, by choice, of determining anything in monetary and banking policy in our country,” he maintained.