The President of the PSD, Prime Minster Pedro Passos Coelho, was in Faro this weekend and stated that his government did not fail the country in the field of social care and even in times of great difficulty it managed to provide support to the poorest sectors of the population.
Speaking at the Municipal Theatre in Faro, the prime minister said that he is looking to the future with conviction and confidence and that the Government will deliver by the end of his term, a country "with the horizon of the future" and can look with pride at the work achieved.
Passos Coelho claimed that "health savings were made but not at the expense of the infrastructure of the national health service where it was possible to invest, by paying off debts that were drowning hospitals, by recapitalising hospitals, by remodeling emergency wards and by hiring more nurses and more doctors.”
The Prime Minister criticised those who, during the past four years, always have rejected the arguments of the government and expressed his confidence in the judgment of the Portuguese people come election time when he hopes for another four years in charge.
Passos Coelho considered it important “not to make promises that cannot be fulfilled" and was confident that the economic recovery will be maintained when the National Institute of Statistics reveals data for the first quarter of 2015.
In response, the Algarve’s Socialist Party has listed the promises made by the current coalition government.
The leader of the PS in Faro, Luis Graça, said that as the government is starting its election campaign, "the commitments and promises the government made to the Algarve should be noted to see what the coalition government has achieved.”
"Unfortunately for the Algarve, nothing has been fulfilled. None of the ten promises that the PSD made in 2011 have been completed. Worse than this, sometimes the government did the opposite of what it promised or managed to worsen what already existed," said the Socialist leader.
With regard to the Central Algarve Hospital, the Socialists said that, four years on, "it never came to pass" and the quality of healthcare in the region has "worsened" because of government policy carried out through local management.
"For four years, they stopped the upgrade works on the EN125 with only a small portion now expected to be completed," criticised Graça, referring to the Faro bypass.
"We continue to wait for a regional transport authority. The rail connection to Faro Airport is promised, not for this legislature, nor for the next, but for 2020. To the young people there has been an invitation to emigrate or become unemployed or take part time work with low wages. The promised dredging in the Guadiana and the Arade was not done, not was any carried out in the Ria Formosa," stated the regional Socialist.
“There is no Court of Appeal in Faro" and the government has sold "the Belmarço Palace, where it was to be installed" and the new judicial map that was launched has "seen justice in the Algarve become even more expensive and far away.”
There are two side to every story but one thing is clear, the people indeed will decide come election day.
