A debate marked by the divergences

The state’s presence in several companies, such as Caixa Geral de Depósitos and TAP, marked the start of the debate between Rui Rocha and Paulo Raimundo. The PCP leader nods with “bankruptcy of the privatizing everything” and accused Il of wanting ”to privatize everything except for water”.

An argument that led the IL leader to claim that the PCP « represents an ideology that failed in all the places where it was attempted, from Venezuela to Cuba, » which in his view, represents « a total failure. »

He added: “If Paulo Raimundo’s program were applied, he would result in a country’s bankruptcy by increasing expense and nationalizations”, giving as an example the program presented by CDU.

Also the housing was another topic highlighted with the communist leader to argue that « the state must intervene and with strength and muscularly. » A problem recognized by Rui Rocha when considering that “we have a very serious housing crisis”, however, that the response goes through the tax vowe by encouraging more construction and more houses for the Portuguese.

And as a solution, the liberal leader believes that by tax, it is possible to encourage the construction of more houses.

Bankruptcy?

Rui Rocha also argued that the party’s view is “future” to “solve essential problems”, with a state focused on his “essential activities”. And he did not hesitate: « Listening to Paulo Raimundo talking about economic approaches that fail is absolutely surprising. Defends an ideology that failed everywhere, » accusing the communist program of returning to bankruptcy. « If Paulo Raimundo misses Troika do something. Goes the PCP program in the mail and send it to the recipient. The next day we have the troika here, » he said.

Criticisms not accepted by the communist leader who gave the case of health as an example. « It’s the law of the jungle, » said Raimundo, arguing that the « state has an obligation to ensure health to everyone and the only system that guarantees this is the NHS », adding that « more people available to work in the NHS ».

An argument that does not convince the IL leader by arguing that users should be able to choose whether to either public or private and beckon the fact that users have “missing the PPP”, namely the Braga Hospital and Beatriz Ângelo in Loures.

Salaries “do not go up by decree”

Another railroad refers to salary increases, with Rui Rocha arguing that wages do not go up by decree, but with productivity and growth. « Companies will have less taxes, will be more competitive and families will have more money in their pockets because they will have less taxes, » he said.

A scenario removed by the communist leader, arguing that either the problem of “front salaries is or is moving to inequality,” adding that the goal of a thousand euros “is no extravagance”.

Ukraine conflict

The debate ended with the conflict in Ukraine, which led Rui Rocha to point his finger at the communist leader: « If Portugal was attacked, what Paulo Raimundo does was surrender the sovereignty of Portugal to whom he had invaded us, » arguing that « the position of the PCP is absolutely unfortunate. »

An accusation that took Paulo Raimundo’s red card: « It is bad for him to end the debate like that. »