CDU accuses Pedro Duarte of turning Port “more expensive and unequal”

A Porto CDU considered today that Pedro Duarte’s governance gave “continuity to a neoliberal view” of the city and accused its municipal executive of not presenting a “own project capable of responding to problems”.

“ This first year confirms that the change of president [of the House of Porto] maintained and deepened the right-wing policy that has made the city more expensive, more unequal and less accessible to those who live and work in it. Pedro Duarte and the executive PSD/CDS-PP/IL give continuity to a neoliberal view of Porto ", accused the municipal group in a statement today.

Pedro Duarte took office as mayor of Porto almost a year ago, on November 5, 2025.

For the CDU, the executive “did not present its own project capable of responding to the city’s structural problems” and, in terms of housing, considers that it should present “a public construction plan”, articulated with the government, with “works on the ground on the scale of this need”.

The municipal group also criticized the exemption from housing construction accessible in urban operations under the Inclusive Zonement regime, the delay in the completion of the works in the neighborhood of Bom Sucesso, among others.

With regard to mobility, elected people do not believe in the effectiveness of the free transport measure “without more workers and buses in the STCP [Oporto Collective Transport Society], more lines and frequencies, greater reliability and punctuality, BUS corridors and better shelters” and also left criticisms that relate to the safety of the city and the management of the public space.

“ It is in the treatment of people in poverty and homeless that this view of the city reveals its harshest face. The successive interventions in overcrowded dwellings without guaranteeing social or alternative monitoring to residents, as well as the recent intervention in the Grijó Viaduct translate a social hostility ", pointed out.

Also the culture, the way Pedro Duarte has talked about the protests for housing in square D. João I and the award of a pelouro to an elected by the PS (Jorge Sobrado) to ensure majority were criticized.

“ The balance of this first year is that of a right-wing executive unwilling to break with the model that aggravates the problems of the city, but committed to controlling its image and narrative ", concluded the elected.