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If, at the beginning of 2020, difficult times were foreseen for the Government, nine months of pandemic brought another conclusion to Portugal and Europe: after all, “there is no doubt that the pandemic has benefited power. The sentence comes from Luís Marques Mendes, former PSD leader and regular SIC commentator.
In his comment space, this Sunday night, Marques Mendes stressed that he still needs to understand the electoral effects that will be felt “when the consequences [da pandemia] arrive with more force in the economic and social sphere ”. Even so, making an average of the latest polls published, the commentator concluded that, if there were a political crisis, “practically everything would remain the same”, without the PSD being able to build a right-wing alternative: “All the right-wing parties combined do not exceed 36%, the value of PAF [a coligação ‘Portugal à Frente’, liderada por Pedro Passos Coelho e Paulo Portas], which is worrying in democratic terms ”.
Still in politics, and with the debates for the presidential elections, the former president of the PSD considered that “there is only one candidate” -Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa- for victory, although he is interested in being aware of two other data: understanding which candidate is the Left that will be ahead and which candidate will be in second place, since if André Ventura begins to “retain” voters this will be a problem for the PSD.
At the end of the year, the Social Democrat considered that there is several good news: first, the start of the vaccination process, which started this Sunday in Portugal and brought an idea that there is “a light at the end of the tunnel”, although with a warning: “Yes, hope, but no euphoria”, since for now “we do not know” when Portugal will have at its disposal several of the vaccines it has (which have not yet been approved). We have to be prudent, patient and cautious ”.
It is not the only good news: Marques Mendes described the agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union as “an excellent Christmas gift for Europe in general” and also for Portugal, which begins its European presidency in January and that, if it had this folder in hand, would go through a “nightmare”. Two other “Christmas gifts” are the inclusion in the ADSE of more than 100,000 workers in the State and the increase in the minimum wage by thirty euros, which the commentator considers “a measure in the right direction” that will stimulate “competitiveness” , despite criticism from the right and the bosses.
