The PSD party’s Festa do Pontal in Quarteira yesterday continues to make headlines for all the wrong reasons. This time it is for the content of the speech the prime minister gave, peppered with announcements of policies in the wings, but also heavy on ‘attacks’.
Luís Montenegro, “attacked the judges of the Constitutional Court for their rejection of the Foreigners’ Law”, wrote Correio da Manhã this morning, accusing them of “entering politics” instead of deciding according to the Constitution. He also attacked the media, and analysts for “assuming political positions under the cloak of independence” – all this being wonderful material for the leader of PS Socialists, José Luís Carneiro, who grabbed it with both hands.
Speaking to journalists in Paredes de Coura last night, he said he found Montenegro’s approach incomprehensible, demonstrating a complete disconnect with the real problems of the country.
“The attack on the Constitutional Court and its judges for enforcing the Constitution, the attack on journalists for reporting, on analysts for expressing opinions, and even on the editorial criteria of television stations is incomprehensible,” he said – “and very serious”.
As to the ‘announcements’ in the PM’s speech, there was nothing by way of solutions for the parlous state of the SNS health service, or for the housing crisis, but there was the news that the government was expecting a new budgetary surplus this year; was cracking down on bureaucracy so that, for example, one request could elicit duplicates of all one’s documents, (“these are things that seem small but that will give more quality of life to people”, said the prime minister).
Address changes on people’s Citizens Cards will, eventually, apply to all state documents too – eliminating the possibility of people being fined, for example, if their Citizens Card address did not tally with their vehicle log book…
The PM talked about the possibility of making a trip on multiple forms of transportation “with just one ticket, and not just within a specific municipality”, and of a virtual wallet that will be created “with all the necessary documents for citizens and companies to present to services when requested for a specific application or process”.
Luís Montenegro repeated the inducements announced for people to give up gas appliances in favour of electric, and financial support for drivers of cars over 10 years old to ‘cash them in’ also for electric vehicles. But the speech will always be remembered for berating people for not deciding, or not broadcasting, in the way that he would have liked – and for having taken place in the soft breeze off the Atlantic as further north the country battled a raging inferno.
Many more ‘political jamborees’ will follow: the next one scheduled is for Iniciativa Liberal on August 30; then there is Bloco de Esquerda on 30/ 31; PS Socialists on September 6; LIVRE on 6/ 7 in Porto, PCP communists around the same time at their annual Festa do Avante, CDS-PP also, and finally PAN, still finalising details of its ‘political return’ from the holidays. One thing is certain, all parties will be taking care not to receive the kind of criticism that has overshadowed Festa do Pontal.
Source: SIC Notícias/ Correio da Manhã/ Lusa
