PSD praises the Government's "great work impetus"

Speaking to Lusa news agency ahead of next Thursday's state of the nation debate in the Assembly of the Republic, Hugo Soares stated that the PSD must "build bridges" with all opposition parties and that, on issues such as the reduction of personal income tax and the regulation of immigration, it has already demonstrated this.

When asked whether the government's openness to negotiations with Chega would break Luís Montenegro's election promise of "no means no" regarding an alliance with André Ventura's party, Hugo Soares rejected this idea, arguing that what was promised was that there would be no pre-election alliance, either at the governmental or parliamentary level.

"If Chega believes it should approve the nationality law with us, great. I want to bring the Socialist Party into this as well. If the Socialist Party believes it should approve a tax cut with us, great. I want Chega to be able to approve it as well. And, therefore, there is no violation of any commitment we have made to the Portuguese people," he stated.

Regarding the current state of the country, the leader of the Social Democratic Party highlighted the government's "full steam ahead" action, highlighting, in addition to the reduction in personal income tax and changes to the law on foreigners, measures for education such as the ban on cell phone use until the sixth year of school and the review of the Citizenship and Development syllabus.

"In the short space of a month, this government has demonstrated a great drive for work and a great drive to transform the country. And the analysis of the state of the nation cannot be dissociated from this," he said.

Hugo Soares noted, however, that there are many problems to be resolved, emphasizing that the government is "working hard to ensure that the NHS can provide the necessary responses to those seeking healthcare" and argued that political consequences should not be drawn from medical decisions.

The leader of the PSD parliamentary group assured that healthcare is still not as the government wants it to be and that the failures are worrying, but argued that the government "inherited an NHS that was in chaos after eight years of socialist government."

"It takes time, the government needs to have stability (...) I have great confidence in the Minister of Health and it is not by changing the Minister of Health that health problems will be solved. Health problems are solved by letting the government govern," he added.

Regarding priorities for the return from parliamentary recess, Hugo Soares said that his party's focus will be on regulating lobbying and resolving housing and mobility issues, with a view to resolving "the real problem in the lives of every Portuguese person."

The debate on the state of the nation is scheduled for next Thursday, the first since the XXV Constitutional Government took office, which will be attended by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro and the rest of the government.