1. The country’s situation continues to deteriorate, the economic and social crisis worsens, and the political and institutional crisis deepens. Such are the consequences of the right-wing policy, of the process of capitalist integration in the European Union, the implementation of the SGP and the Pact of Aggression. In this context, the need for the Portuguese workers and people to take into their hands the future of the country, the struggle for the dismissal of the Government, the holding of early elections, the rejection of the Pact of Aggression and a rupture with the right-wing policy, on the path to ensure the implementation of a patriotic and left-wing policy and government, pursuing the values of April in Portugal’s future, is reasserted.
2. After the scenes of degradation and disintegration of the PSD/CDS-PP government and the attempts that followed to “glue the pieces” when it broke down; after launching a pathetic and failed presidential political initiative to promote a so-called national salvation agreement, but, in fact, of continuation of national destruction, between PSD, PS and CDS-PP, parties responsible for sinking the country – the President of the Republic ended by reaffirming and strengthening his commitment to the continuation of this policy and that of the PSD/CDS-PP government which implements it.
3. This decision shows that the President of the Republic tears down his institutional responsibilities. The so-called commitment of “national salvation” was a mere manoeuvre, at the service of the interests of big national and transnational capital, to try to trap the country into the path of the right-wing policy and the Pact of Aggression that sinks it, to gather the force it lacks to pursue it and, at the same time, buy time and try to show a distance he does have, from the PSD/CDS-PP government. This became particularly clear when he announced that the Passos Coelho/Paulo Portas government now had, without the so-called “commitment of national salvation”, stronger conditions to pursue its action until the end of the legislature, when, in his first statement, acknowledged the government’s weakness and admitted it would last a year.
With his decision to extend the present government’s life, the President of the Republic assumes full responsibility for all the consequences of the continuation of its action and that of the majority which supports it, assumes being a factor of the degradation of the functioning of the democratic institutions, deliberately acts to try to prevent the expression of popular sovereignty and violates the oath he took to defend, uphold and enforce the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic.
4. The decision of the President of the Republic to maintain the government and not call early elections means, not a step to overcome the national problems, but to aggravate the economic, social, political and institutional crisis the country finds itself.
The President of the Republic swore in the new ministers and secretaries of state, endorsed the government reshuffle that he had ignored a week and a half before. The brand of this government’s policy is well clear in its composition, its commitment and its rapport with big business, the links and involvement of government members in scandals such as Swaps loans, BPN and BPP banks.
The propaganda manoeuvre proclaiming a “new cycle” and a “new government” seeks to conceal the truth of an old and patched up government and the purpose of continuing and deepening the right-wing policy, the path of increasing the exploitation, impoverishment and national disaster. The new package of social terrorism underway against public services and social functions of the State, the promotion of dismissals, particularly in Public Administration, the increase in working hours, the cuts in unemployment benefits, new attacks on Local Government, the prosecution of the criminal policy of privatisations, an example of which is the announcement of the privatisation of CTT [Postal Services], constitute examples that aim to perpetuate a programme of aggression, both under the cover of the present “memorandum of understanding”, or a “second bailout” dubbed “precautionary programme”.
5. The evolution of the national situation, together with the position of the President of the Republic, of the Government, of PSD and CDS-PP, makes clearer the position of the PS. Its participation and position in the process of the so-called “commitment of national salvation” meant accepting the prolongation of this government’s life, the reaffirmation of its commitment with the memorandum of the troika, its application and with the budgetary policy of cuts and viability of new programmes of foreign submission. The calls for future agreements and the admitted existence of common views between PSD and PS, and the statements by the PS spokesman advocating that the combat against PCP “is equally or even more important” than the combat against the right, are further proof of PS’s commitment with the right-wing policy.
6. The motion of confidence now presented is just play-acting doomed to discredit, just like the majority which votes it and the government which presents it.
The economic and social, political and institutional crisis into which the country was plunged not only continues but worsens. The Government and the majority which supports it, act outside the law and against the Constitution. There is no gluing of the pieces of the broken down government, there is no motion of confidence of an illegitimate majority in a discredited, politically defeated and socially isolated government that can give it any credibility or legitimacy.
The Government was defeated due to the failure of its policy, the struggle of the Portuguese workers and people, The June 27 General Strike, following the impressive development of the mass struggle, was an irreparable shock to the Government and its policy. Weakened, discredited, the Government tries to dangerously continue its destructive action.
The issue now is not whether the government and the illegitimate majority which supports it will be defeated, but the need to intensify and broaden the struggle to speed up the time of its defeat to free the country from its destructive action.
7. The Political Commission of the CC of the PCP, in view of the development of the situation, reaffirms the demand for the Government’s dismissal, the holding early elections, the rejection of the Pact of Aggression, a rupture with the right-wing policy and the implementation of a patriotic and left-wing policy.
The urgency of a rupture with the right-wing policy and a change in national life to open the way for constructing an alternative, patriotic and left-wing policy is a national imperative, a condition to ensure Portugal with a future, of social justice and progress, a sovereign and independent country. A policy that is capable of freeing Portugal from dependency and submission, restore to the country that which belongs to it, hand back to the workers and people their rights, wages and incomes.
8. It is necessary to have a convergence and mobilisation of the social and political forces, of the democrats and patriots, to make a break with the right-wing policy.
The country’s situation emphasizes the importance of strengthening the PCP and CDU, its characteristics of work, honesty and competence. Important characteristics in terms of Local Administration and all fields of activity and political responsibility. The country needs the PCP and its allies in CDU, its values, its policy, its project. In view of the degrading scenes of the right-wing policy and its executors, the difference of the PCP and its allies in CDU is clearer, as is their lasting commitment with the workers and people.
The country’s future increasingly lies in the hands of the workers and the people. The Political Commission of the CC of the PCP calls for the prosecution of the mass struggle and, for the present, for the participation in the demonstration/concentration called by the Trade Union structures and user committees on July 29, near the Assembly of the Republic.
