Housing? “Parties must leave the selfish interests of the party”

O secretary-General of the PSD, today said that the parties “must leave egoistic interests” and expressed agreement with the appeal of the President of the Republic, who asked those to put aside the “partisan tactic”.

“The Government and the Parliamentary Group of the PSD and the PSD are very focused on solving the concrete problems that affect the lives of Portuguese and Portuguese and, to that extent, could not agree more with Mr. President of the Republic. I believe that this is the time when the parties should leave the selfish interests of the party and look at what really matters,” Hugo Soares said.

The also leader of the PSD parliamentary group spoke to journalists in Santiago da Guarda, municipality of Ansião (Leiria), in the margins of a dinner that marks the first year of term of office of the mayor, Jorge Cancelinha, who in the localities of 2025 dethroned the PS of the municipality.

On a day marked by new demonstrations for the right to housing in various places in the country, the leader recovered an expression from Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, who, on 15 October, had asked the organizers of the demonstrations of the Movement for Housing, in Porto, to “not be selfish” about tranquility and public order.

“ I hope that the political parties, associative movements, Portuguese organizations, will not fall into temptation, for purely egoistic reasons of their own action, import to Portugal climates of instability, of contestation, which have not in fact supported in Portuguese society,” said Luis Montenegro.

Hugo Soares argued that “what really matters is finding solutions to the problems of people’s lives, in various areas and in housing as well.”.

As for the demonstrations, he stressed that “they should be viewed with normality in democracy, within the limits of the law”, hoping that this is what “is happening once again today”.

Asked whether the government should go to dialogue with the protesters, as suggested by the secretary-general of the PS, the leader of the PSD replied that José Luís Carneiro “is turning a kind of talking pick into a dispute with Dr. André Ventura [leader of the Enough]”.

“It’s the two of them who talk more about televisions,” he said, noting that when José Luís Carneiro was Minister of Internal Administration and “had the forces and security services on the street in protest” he does not remember seeing him “on the street talking to the protesters”.

“Now (...) he says everything and his opposite of what he did at the time,” he said.

The protesters demand the reversal of the new rental law, the end of demolitions and evictions without an alternative housing, a stop to the purchase of housing by real estate funds, the increase in public housing, the recovery of vacant buildings for housing purposes and ceilings “truely accessible” to income.

On the new regime for urban lease, which is under discussion in the speciality of the Assembly of the Republic, the Social Democrat classified it as “a very balanced law”, challenging “all parties so that they can discuss with dialogue” and find the best solutions.

On the request of several parties for the Government to drop this new law, Hugo Soares replied that it is normal that BE or PCP “have a vision that is in the antipodes” of what the Government has for society.

“ I am not expecting the Portuguese Communist Party, nor the Left Block, nor the Free to support measures that are structural for the housing market. From that point of view, it seems normal for parties to disagree. It costs more than the Socialist Party does not agree”, he said.

For the Secretary-General of the PSD, the PS “is the father of the current law, which is the same as saying it is the father of the high rents, and contests the high rents”, so “it should be predisposed to change and not to leave everything in the same.”.

The President of the Republic, António José Seguro, appealed on Friday to the parties to put aside the “partisan triple” and concentrate on finding solutions to people’s problems, particularly in housing and health.