Portugal's president urges parties to drop blame games on housing and health

Presidential appeal from Leiria

On Friday, 30 October, President António José Seguro visited the Escola Secundária Afonso Lopes Vieira in Leiria, a school being rebuilt after the storms of early 2026. Speaking largely without a script to students, he accused political parties of inaction and of preferring to pass blame rather than solve problems. He said he had summoned the parties to Belém on 29 October because they are essential to democracy, but that their differences should not become an excuse for doing nothing. The school has more than 1,000 students from 28 nationalities.

Pressing the point, Seguro asked a question that he tied to the housing crisis:

“Is it not the responsibility of the political parties, of Parliament, of the governments, to contribute joint solutions to resolve this situation?”

Lasting agreements on housing

Seguro described the housing crisis as a problem that cannot be solved overnight and said that the answers will need years. He argued that such efforts outlast legislatures and governments, and warned that a failure to agree would discredit politics across the board. He noted that young people in Portugal, on average, leave their parents' homes at 30. He also said the government does not hold a parliamentary majority, so parties should create conditions of stability and governability without giving up their core positions.

“We need years. And those years outlast legislatures, they change governments.”

Seguro said he had asked the government, municipalities and other bodies for updated information on storm recovery, including results achieved, persisting difficulties and measures to prevent emergencies. He said he would keep pressing the issue and rejected the view that his appeals are doomed to fail.

Carneiro backs the appeal and attacks the government

José Luís Carneiro, secretary-general of the Socialist Party (PS), said he was in full agreement with the President. Speaking to reporters at the Estoril Conferences, the 10th edition, held at Nova SBE in Carcavelos, he said he had written to Prime Minister Luís Montenegro more than a year ago proposing joint work on national priorities in housing and health. He added that the government had not yet contacted the PS on housing and that the party had left its proposals with the President.

Carneiro said the government's passivity was creating unease among young people and families:

“The government must govern, and the prime minister must coordinate, command and lead his government.”

Carneiro challenged Montenegro to withdraw the government's proposed amendment to the rent law, which he said weakens young people, middle-class families and the elderly. He recalled that the PS had put forward housing measures during the state budget debate, including a moratorium on rents whose contracts end at the end of the year. He said thousands of people are worried about those expiring contracts and noted that the government is already on its third budget.

The 'bloco central' question

Asked about reports that the PS leadership might be interested in a 'bloco central' understanding with the Social Democratic Party (PSD), Carneiro said he did not think Seguro's message was aimed at the socialists. He argued that it is important for democracy to have a clear alternative between the PS and the PSD, the two main democratic parties. He declined to go further on arrangements to keep the Chega party out and insisted that the PS was contributing to stability. The next step he demanded is the withdrawal of the rent law amendment.