Alternatively, this morning there will also be a vote on the nationally oriented political proposals of Pedro Nuno Santos and his two former internal opponents José Luís Carneiro and Daniel Adrião.
The 24th National Congress of the PS, which began on Friday, will take place at the Lisbon International Fair (FIL). The closing speech is scheduled for 12:00 and will be attended by the Prime Minister and former Secretary General of the PS, António Costa, at the invitation of Pedro Nuno Santos.
On Saturday, the Secretary General of the PS announced that today he would present measures for “economic transformation and defense of the welfare state”, setting out priorities for the future electoral program with which he will present himself in the expected parliamentary elections on March 10.
“A welfare state that still has problems that require an answer, for example in the health sector, but which we want to address robustly,” explained Pedro Nuno Santos in an interview with TVI.
Delegates elect the National Commission, the highest body between congresses, the National Jurisdiction Commission and the National Economic and Financial Inspection Commission, with twoyear mandates.
The general secretary of the PS and the two other candidates for the direct elections on December 15 and 16 agreed on a unified list for the National Commission led by Francisco Assis, which has Alexandra Leitão in second place and José Luís Carneiro in third place.
Next week, the new National Commission will elect the National Political Commission where it is already known that, among others, the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santos Silva, current ministers such as Mariana Vieira da Silva and Ana Catarina Mendes, the Minister of Foreign Affairs António Mendonça Mendes and the MEP Pedro Silva Pereira and the National Secretariat, the executive body, a team proposed by the Secretary General.
In his first speech to the PS Congress on Saturday afternoon, Pedro Nuno Santos expressed the view that he had matured under the governments of António Costa, that he had worked and that only those who did it made mistakes, and in turn blamed the President of the PSD, Luís Montenegro, represents a gap in project and experience.
Although he was proud of the last eight years of the PS government, he acknowledged that “not everything was done well” and “there are problems to solve”, but argued that the Socialists had the “best conditions” to do so.
The 24th PS Congress marks the change of leadership from António Costa to Pedro Nuno Santos, who won the internal direct elections on December 15 and 16 with 61% of the vote, while José Luís Carneiro received 37% and Daniel Adrião 1% of the vote .
With the candidacy of the new Secretary General, almost 70% of the approximately 1,400 delegates were elected to the congress.
This electoral process in the PS was opened with the resignation of António Costa from the post of Prime Minister exactly two months ago, on November 7, after it became known that he was the subject of a judicial investigation initiated by the Ministry of State and the Supreme Court. by Operation Influencer.
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, immediately accepted the Prime Minister's resignation and two days later announced to the country the dissolution of Parliament and the call for early parliamentary elections on March 10.
On Friday, Prime Minister António Costa spoke at the opening of the congress, already as former general secretary of the PS, a position he held for nine years since November 22, 2014.
In the final part of his speech, he received sustained applause from congressmen when he declared: “They may have overthrown our government, but they have not overthrown the PS. The horsepower here is strong and lively. The PS is rejuvenated here with new energy,” with new leadership. And with Pedro Nuno Santos we are ready to fight.”