Greetings to everyone present at this get-together lunch.
A lunch with so many comrades, with so many friends, with so many trustworthy, honest, dedicated, hard-working people who deserve a better life.
People from this land of struggle and resistance, people who know that each of the rights, each of the advances is in the hands of each and every one.
It is in the hands of all of us, every day we fight for what we are entitled to and for what we have, but what we really have is the right to a better life.
As I said, this is an everyday battle, and it is so in the elections on March 10.
There we have another opportunity, this time with the vote, to change policy, to open a new path, to vote for the alternative of the given word, of dignity, for the alternative of trust.
The vote for the CDU, the vote for a better life, the vote for the force that sees the aging of the population as an advance and an achievement of civilisation.
Those who have worked a lifetime have the right and we have the duty to guarantee them the rest of their life with quality
It is not a duty out of charity, it is an obligation, because if we are here, if we arrived here, it was because there were millions of people who, being retired today, worked, fought, contributed to make it so.
Retired people, pensioners and the elderly need a public network of support facilities, they deserve respect and appreciation, they deserve to continue to live with quality, with physical and psychological well-being, with conditions of security, tranquillity, mobility and public transport, access to the National Health Service, doctors, care, treatments and medicines.
It is necessary to pave the way for the creation of a Public Network of Nursing Homes, creating 80 thousand vacancies by 2026, a network associated with the coverage that already exists with different realities.
It is necessary, and it is necessary now and not for tomorrows that never come, it is necessary now and not in 2028 or 2030, to increase pensions.
A new path needs to be paved, a clear signal needs to be given, progression is needed, yes, but what is needed is to give a sign now.
A sign that in the year that marks the 50th. anniversary of April, it must be achieved in April, with a special increase in pensions by a minimum of 7.5% and 70 euros in all pensions.
And for those who say that there are no resources, we tell them that there will always be resources if the option is to value those who work and those who have worked their entire lives, but that requires political choices.
Of course, the blanket is what it is and if the resources that exist are handed over to a handful of people it is clear that more than 2 million retirees and pensioners are left out in the cold.
But let's get specific, our proposal to increase pensions would cost 1600 million euros more than the amount that the Government decided for this year's increases.
1600 million more is a lot of money, but it is exactly the same amount that the Government decided to renounce by handing 1600 million in tax benefits for these economic groups, those of the 25 million euros in profits per day.
If we want to understand the extent of the injustice we live in, 60 days of profits would pay for this need for 2 million people.
60 days and they would still have more than 300 days left to continue amassing scandalous profits.
An essential decision to replace lost purchasing power and face the increase in the cost of living.
We have to put an end to injustice, we have to combat inequality and better distribute wealth among those who work and have worked their entire lives.
Those who work for 40 years, who contribute 40 years of life with their work, have the right to their full retirement, without penalisation.
A measure that cannot be isolated from other measures, which are also required, such as fixing and reducing the price of food and VAT on telecommunications, energy and gas.
This is our path, this is our commitment, for the PCP and the CDU, retired people, pensioners and the elderly are not a burden, they are a source of experience, knowledge and struggle that must be enhanced and valued.
Essential measures for retired people, pensioners and the elderly across the country and also for those who live here in Couço and in the Santarém region.
PCP’s measures, at the service of those who work and have worked their entire lives, measures that PS, PSD, Chega and IL, together or in turn, rejected each and every one of them, often claiming that there is no money, there is never money for pensioners in particular for the 72% who live on pensions below 500 euros, but there is always money for economic groups.
There is money, but it is very poorly distributed.
This cannot continue like this.
There will be elections on March 10 and there is an opportunity for this urgent change in the lives of each of us.
We are at a time of showering promises, some say 10 and others shout 15, some say it is now, others say it is too late.
We know what all this means now and above all the practical consequences after they reach the top.
Now is the time for promises and attempts to wipe out the past and everyone’s responsibilities, tomorrow will be the time to justify why the promises made are not fulfilled.
Our people, retired people and pensioners do not have a short memory, there are, it is true, some aches here and there, but above all there is a lot of life experience, but the memory remains fresh.
The PS is not the same as the PSD, the PSD is not the same as the CDS, Chega and IL are not the same, but regardless of the differences that exist and they exist, whenever it is necessary to choose between the interests of economic groups and the lives of each one of us, they all line up together, some more openly, others more shyly or stalling, others lying with all the teeth they have in their mouths.
We know that there were many who, two years ago, in search of solutions for their lives, voted for the PS and that two years after the absolute majority of the PS, they realise that voting for the CDU is the guarantee for those same solutions that they rightly aspire to.
They know from their own experience, if anything advanced in their living conditions and pensions, it was due to the strength that the PCP and the CDU had and it is necessary for us to have that again, and against the will of the PS.
We have to talk to them, we have to win them over to vote for the CDU, dignity, pensions, access to healthcare depend on that vote.
The retired and pensioners know that from the PSD and CDS, as well as from Chega and IL, there will only be setbacks, setbacks for each of the pensioners but also for their children and grandchildren.
These same PSD, CDS, Chega and IL that together are, as we remember well, the record holders for pension cuts during the troika's time, with a policy that was theirs, which has always been theirs and which continues to be theirs.
And they know and don't forget that they count on the CDU, they count on the strength that is theirs and belongs to them, with the force that has never been lacking, is not lacking and will not be lacking, the force that needs more strength, more votes, more MPs.
The right to age with rights for today's pensioners and those of the future is a civilisational advance for which we will continue to fight.
This is the PCP's commitment to a sovereign Portugal, fairer and solidary towards all generations.
It is also through the struggle of older people that the present and future of younger people are guaranteed.
Thank you for all your effort, your experience, your joy and struggle, thank you for everything, but your role is not over.
You are necessary, you are essential in the struggles of today and tomorrow, for you, for your children, for your grandchildren, for your family, for the country that we want and that we are going to build.
We trust the pensioners and their experience.
We are certain that the CDU will deserve your trust, will grow, will have more votes and more MPs.
MPs who are needed, because there are already MPs, and too many, in the Assembly of the Republic to defend the banking sector, the disease business, economic groups.
They have already realised that more MPs from the PCP and CDU are needed for their lives, see how much the MP elected for the district of Santarém is needed.
This MP who, with the strength of the people and also with your contribution, we will elect on March 10.
We will elect Bernardino Soares, who will join other CDU MPs to defend and give hope to the workers, the people and democrats, to stand up to the big interests and make a difference.
There we will be, stronger for everything that is positive and to stop everything that is negative.
This is not a time to wait for what will follow, this is the time to act.
With your experience, with your creativity and with your own strength that always appears often without knowing where it comes from, let's all have all the talks possible, with neighbours, family, with people closer and less close.
Let's talk, explain, mobilise, to vote for the CDU.
This is the time to believe again, let's move forward, with confidence.
The strengthening of the CDU is your strengthening.
Count on us, we count on you to put the country, each person's life, the lives of the pensioners and elderly back on the April track, this April so alive and so necessary in everyone's lives and in the future of Portugal.
