“The middle class is under attack. And it is ignored by those who govern us.”

” A Middle class is under attack. And it is ignored by those who govern us. And you know why? I’ll tell you. Because the middle class has long since ceased to weigh in the polls as it did before. It shrunk. In number and income, purchasing power and quality of life. And electoral tactics speak louder,” said Mariana Leitão.

For the leader of the liberals, who spoke in Quarteira, in the event that marks the ‘rentrée’ of the party, “where there are vows, there are promises”, but where “there are fewer votes, there is contempt” and, today, “no one speaks” nor “really defends” the middle class, although this is the one that creates wealth and makes a country develop, with the remaining to pay “without receiving anything” in return.

“The middle class was abandoned by the ER and the PSD. And you know, you know, that Enough comes only more State and more incompetence. And without a strong middle class, there is no Portugal able to compete with anyone,” he insisted, accusing the State of being a “bad manager” of public money and leaving criticism to the Prime Minister.

“Louis [Montenegro] promised to work, promised to change, promised to reform the state, health, housing. You promised to lower taxes. You promised, you promised, and you didn’t. Its large measure is a sovereign fund to buy part of REN and other companies. A fund that will not be paid for any natural wealth, (…) but, yes, with the sweat of our work. I’m sorry, but this only has one name. It’s confiscation. And I cannot accept that,” said the leader of the Liberal Initiative (IL).

In her speech, Mariana Leitão presented three measures for this legislature, namely to insist on the need to simplify and lower the IRS, to end bureaucracy, which she described as the “worst tax that exists” and, finally, to advocate a reform of the pension system that allows young people to “have options, save and own” their future.

“What each Portuguese takes out every month should stay within a transparent system. You need to start entering an account with his name on it. An account you can open and consult. Where you see how much you have, how much you’ve earned, and how much you can count on. This is called capitalization. And that is what is still lacking in this country,” he argued.

Mariana Leitão anticipated that the defense of this measure will provoke a “attack” from other political quadrants, an attack that, she says, is “the same as always: that of privatization”.

And he added: “It’s another lie [that IL wants to privatize Social Security] from those who want to keep everything as it is.”

“There is no privatization of Social Security. The pension remains guaranteed to all those who have worked a lifetime, and to those who have been ill or unemployed have not been able to guarantee their livelihood. Only then will we be able to leave the next generation a better country than the one we received,” he concluded.

For the president of IL, “no one wants to solve the problem, but everyone learned to live on it” and exemplified: “The Arrivo promises to lower the retirement age, never says who pays. The PS and the PSD, each in turn, distribute extraordinary payments as they please.”

” The left proposes increases every year, without a single account made about what happens next,” he concluded.

[News updated at 10:23 p.m.]