Isabel Mendes Lopes closes today ‘rentrée’ of Livre in Porto

Din the morning, the work in Customs of Porto starts with a conversation with the six MPs of the Free parliamentary group, including the two spokespersons Isabel Mendes Lopes and Jorge Pinto, and the former leader Rui Tavares, entitled “A full life”.

Close to 1:00 p.m. it will be up to the parliamentary leader, Isabel Mendes Lopes, to close the proceedings. In the afternoon, the party will also meet in Assembly, the maximum body between congresses.

The first day in the Port Customs functioned as an authentic school for the formation of party staff: there were organized several debates and round tables with varied themes, from “making constructive opposition and gaining political influence without being in the executive”, “proximity and civic participation” or developing “communication strategies”.

Both Isabel Mendes Lopes and Jorge Pinto highlighted the importance of Free taking advantage of growth in the last electoral acts, particularly in local elections, to expand its voting base, showing work at local level and aiming to influence power at national level.

“Free has always been very clear since the appearance of the party, we want to be a solution also in executive positions, we want to have the power to effectively change people’s lives,” said the co-voice.

In the speech that closed the first day, Jorge Pinto insisted on the same idea: the party “will govern”, but warned that it is necessary to cement its growth.

Outside, Jorge Pinto warned that the party will not align on the “addicted game” of the extreme right, even if PSD or Government do. The leader also recalled that his party was the only one on the parliamentary left who voted against the motion of censure to the Government presented by the Aquira this week (PS, PCP and BE abstained), using this moment to distinguish their party from the rest of the same political quadrant.

In addition to practical dynamics, such as one on housing, on the first day in Customs of Porto, Rui Tavares and Jorge Pinto participated in a conversation about the role of cooperatives, an idea Jorge Pinto wants to “bring to the 21st century”.

According to the organization, this edition of the “Setembrists” had about 200 participants.

This was the first ‘rentrée’ of the Free since Rui Tavares left the position of spokesperson, having assumed in the new direction the “pelour of strategy, communication and training”. Since July, Jorge Pinto and Isabel Mendes Lopes (who was already a double spokesperson with Tavares) took the leadership of Livre.