António Costa says socialists can guarantee stability

  • Lusa
  • 10 January 2022

The Socialist Party (PS) secretary-general and prime minister António Costa said that its party was "able" to ensure government stability during the next four years.

The socialist secretary-general, António Costa, said on Sunday that the PS is the party that “is able” to ensure government stability during the next four years, calling for the vote in the January 30 legislative elections.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a meeting with supporters in a hotel in Elvas, the PS leader insisted that the political crisis that led to early elections was “untimely” and revealed “a great irresponsibility”.

“The response to this political crisis is only one: it is to guarantee stability for the next four years, and the one in a position to do this is the PS”, he stressed, stressing that “it is fundamental” to vote for the Socialists to “guarantee that this happens”.

The PS secretary-general and prime minister regretted that the political crisis had been opened “in the middle of a pandemic” and “when it was fundamental for the country to be 100% focused on recovery and progress”.

Asked by journalists about a poll that gives the PS an advantage, Costa stressed that what “really counts is the one on election day”, acknowledging, however, that the study puts the Socialists “closer” to a majority and that he hoped “that this corresponded to people’s feelings”.

Challenged by journalists to take stock of the television debates with political opponents, he said that he started this pre-campaign phase “with full determination and energy”.

“This week has only strengthened my determination and energy and the conviction that it is possible to have a majority,” he added.

In his speech, the secretary-general of the PS highlighted the public investments underway in the district of Portalegre, such as the Pisão Dam or the construction of the rail link between Sines and Spain.

“This whole strip close to the border that we are used to treating as interior, has an enormous potential and we have to know how to take advantage of it if we want to grow more than in the past,” he stated.