Pedro Nuno Santos has been campaigning for the future secretary general of the PS for at least 20 years. Whether ambition comes from high school is an unproven hypothesis. He has a plan and has been pitching it to PS and the country for years. has Your “People”His favorite word when addressing socialists in campaign sessions.
For the interview Mariana Vieira da Silva to PÚBLICO and Radio Renaissance Costa’s No. 2 claim that the government is ready to “accept any solution the PSD is comfortable with” doesn’t please Pedro Nuno Santos. His statements in interviews on Wednesday, the day the order was issued, were in no doubt contrary to the strategy defined by the Prime Minister about ignoring consensual solutions with the PSD. Since Pedro Nuno Santos is not crazy, the statements following the order may have wanted to publicly express that Costa’s strategy was different. “That’s enough, that’s enough, that’s enough! The country has been debating the airport for years. It’s too long. A decision has been made, we are going to move forward” – he said in an interview with RTP – is unmistakable. In the same interview, adding that “the country cannot wait”, as a calling card, the Costa opposition, despite the recent absolute majority, is more tired today than six years ago. There is, and he has not left the country for a long time, because of the European agenda.
Pedro Nuno Santos’ dream is to be branded a “political maker” as his future prime ministerial candidate. For others, he thinks disdain for Luis Montenegro is a good personal strategy: after all, if Pedro Nuno Santos succeeds Antonio Costa, he will face Montenegro in the legislature, not Antonio Costa.
The whole story is unknown. Pedro Nuno Santos has already had several explosive interventions that have displeased the head of government, but none of this caliber. However, whatever the “communication error”, there is a deep political difference, in the most ridiculous way possible, Pedro Nuno Santos insisted on making public: on the one hand, who wanted to end the matter, consensus with the PSD; On the other hand, the Prime Minister lays down the “tax” of the government.
The tone of the statement ordering Costa Pedro Nuno to withdraw this order could only have resulted in the minister’s resignation. Liked by Pedro Nuno A dark and humiliating excuse to stay in government. Why would an aspiring Prime Minister lend a loan to a man who is sure to be on the list of the most pathetic in the history of national politics? There is only one explanation: Pedro Nuno Santos thinks that, even though he is very weak, his chances of winning the succession struggle will increase when he is in power, and decrease when he sits in the fifth row of parliament. That’s why he agreed to kiss Antonio Costa’s feet, go to the moon and come back with vows of love and requests for forgiveness, and he agreed to humble himself before the PS and the country. I’m not sure if the image of him with Pedro Nuno Santos on his knees has done more than give his career at PS an honorable dismissal and, if necessary, politically separate himself from Antonio Costa. – But he (and Costa) knows PS better than I do.
When my friends sometimes ask me if Pedro Nuno Santos will be the next Secretary General of the PS, I usually answer: “Yes, if I don’t walk on my own two feet”. What happened this week was not a trip, but a fall from the 5th floor. Sometimes you survive the fall, the memory of socialists is short, and Pedro Nuno Santos continues to be the socialist who gathers the most support for Costa’s victory. The problem then is whether his image has unintended consequences in the eyes of the country and the electorate.
