The last few months have been marked by an exceptional situation, as a result of the outbreak of COVID -19 and the sanitary measures to prevent and fight it, in which the National Health Service and its professionals have played an irreplaceable role.

We have entered a new period of resuming life in the country, a path towards the normalisation of economic activity and the life of the Portuguese aware of the need to comply with the basic rules of health protection, individual and collective.

Today, May 5th, we mark a particularly striking moment in the life and history of the Portuguese Communist Party. Seventy years ago, during his trial in a fascist Court, Alvaro Cunhal delivered a memorable intervention where, with remarkable lucidity and courage, he proceeded to judge and condemn the fascist regime.

There are many and significant moments in the life and struggle of the Portuguese Communist Party that we will mark and celebrate during the centenary commemoration of PCP's heroic existence.

In the context of this situation that we live due to the epidemic, it becomes more important to be here with this solidary presence, a struggle that is of everyday.

Today we are witnessing this problem of the virus that can kill, that kills, and we often forget those who have their lives destroyed because they lost their jobs, their wages, lost individual and collective rights

We are going to have a May Day, in this year of 2020, under different conditions of pressure on the health and rights of the workers, making this day of struggle even more important. In this time of epidemic, prevention and treatment are needed and this is being done and must be done. But at this time, on the footsteps of the epidemic outbreak, an epidemic of attack on the workers, their rights, wages, bonds, work hours, working conditions, hygiene, safety and health is being promoted. Covering the virus with the footprint of exploitation is being deeply forced on the lives of workers.