Militants from the Socialist Party (PS), including former Prime Minister António Costa, criticize the Loures mayor’s statements, considering that evictions of tenants from municipal housing as “additional sanctions” complementary to “criminal sanctions” offend the values, culture and party identity.
In an article published in the newspaper “Público”the former prime minister António Costa, the deputy and member of the Lisbon Municipal Political Commission, José Leitão, and the former MEP Pedro Silva Pereira refer to statements by the president of the Municipal Council of Loures, Ricardo Leão, who defended the “merciless” eviction of tenants from municipal housing who participated in the disturbances that occurred in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area.
In the article entitled “In defense of the honor of the PS”, the three socialists consider that “in addition to grossly violating the reserved powers of the Assembly of the Republic and the courts, it would (the evictions) affect, in a manifestly disproportionate way, the fundamental right to housing of themselves and, a fortiori, of innocent people who, being part of the respective family group, would be collaterally punished just for residing in the same house”.
“When a socialist leader seriously offends the values, identity and culture of the PS, there is no tactical calculation that can devalue him. This is the legacy of the Socialist Party that we now feel the duty to remember and defend. In defense of the honor of the PS!”, they emphasize.
In the article, they remember that the PS’s identity was built throughout its history and intense political struggles anchored in the values of humanism, freedom, the rule of law, equality and social justice.
“This important heritage of values and, in particular, the humanist tradition mark in a particular way the legacy of the Socialist Party in public policies for the integration of immigrants, for which the signatories were responsible in different positions and different historical moments”, they say.
António Costa, José Leitão and Pedro Silva Pereira remember, among others, that it was in the Federation of the Urban Area of Lisbon “that the first socialist public policies in favor of the integration of immigrants began to be designed, which came to inspire important bills attributing of rights, drawn up through the active participation of immigrant associations”.
They also remember that it was with the socialist Government that the high commission for Immigration and Ethnic Minorities was created, which for the first time were guaranteed the right to work without discrimination, to social benefits such as the Guaranteed Minimum Income, access to the National Service Health, social housing and participation in local elections.
The activists also highlight that “it was with a socialist Government that the major structural reform of the Nationality Law of 2006 was carried out”.
In the article, they also consider that “confronting the Chega (party) requires firmness in principles and combating easy perceptions with the reality of the facts”, highlighting that it is proven that there is no relationship between crime and immigration and that, on the contrary, the contribution of immigration to economic growth and the sustainability of the welfare state is objectively recognized”.
The current president of the Federation of the Urban Area of Lisbon (FAUL) of the PS and president of the Loures City Council, Ricardo Leão, defended, in a public meeting, the eviction of tenants in municipal housing who had participated in the disturbances, following the death of the corporal -Verdiano Odair Moniz, shot by a PSP agent.
Pedro Nuno Santos considered that the president of the Municipal Council of Loures (PS) had a “less good moment” when he defended evictions for people who participated in the riots in Lisbon and argued, however, that “one cannot fail to evaluate the work continuous at Loures City Council”.
Source: rr.sapo.pt
