PSD defends that Africa is “increasingly a priority for Portugal” – Politics
The party highlights “four objectives” which it considers to be Portugal’s external relations.
The PSD’s electoral program for the January 30 legislatives argues that Africa “should be increasingly a priority for Portugal”.
The priority should not be limited to “Lusophone Africa”, which comprises the Portuguese Speaking African Countries (PALOP) and with which the social democrats defend the deepening of technical, economic and social relations, but “realize that there is room for strong with other countries in the region”.
“The PSD proposes that Portugal continue to bet decisively on a prominent role in West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea, mainly through capacity building actions. (…) It is also necessary to assume the central role of North Africa and the Maghreb, given the territorial proximity, the energy resources and the potential of commercial relations”, is read in the document, which Lusa had access to.
Highlighting Portugal’s position, the PSD considers that the country “has to assume itself more and more as the apex of a triangle linking Europe, Africa, America and Asia, making use of its Atlantic position”.
“There is therefore a need to invest in a greater and more capable presence in Europe, in a reinforcement of Lusophony and not to strengthen relations with America (Brazil, Latin America and the USA). Portugal must assume a ‘hub’ in the circulation of people and goods between Europe, America, Africa and Asia “because, he maintains, this is a “strategic opportunity that cannot be missed”.
But it is Lusophony that stands out from the proposals of the Social Democrats, which they characterize as “the pillar that aims at the Portuguese singularity and distinguishes the country from all others”, in the electoral program presented this Friday in Lisbon.
In this sense, the PSD highlights, in the “four objectives” that it considers should guide Portugal’s external relations, the “creation of a citizenship of the community, which can have as embryo the CPLP mobility regime [Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa]”
Returning to the geographical position, the PSD considers that “the specificity of Portugal, located in the extreme west of Europe and having the Atlantic as its second border, makes the transatlantic relationship” for the country “more important than for any other European country”.
With regard to Portuguese communities abroad, the PSD argues that they should also be a priority.
“We must make Portuguese communities spread all over the world a priority. This involves improving the services provided, especially in embassies and consulates, modernizing their network and evaluating their impacts. Among other measures, we propose to expand the scope of the current Consular Service Center (CAC) to all consular posts, and operating 24/7 [24 horas/sete dias]”, references the electoral program of the Social Democrats.
For the PSD, “the Portuguese communities must be an axis for the defense of Portugal’s interests, through a real network” and “a close link between the communities and the Portuguese business fabric constitutes an enormous potential for the internationalization of national products that needs be better used, in close collaboration with AICEP [Agência para o Investimento e Comércio Externo de Portugal]”
“In external representation, the enormous value of Portuguese communities in the world is not leveraged in order to assert the name of Portugal and Portuguese products in the global economy. Only the fiscal apparatus seems to work efficiently, in its greed to collect revenue anyway, to the point of practicing the exaggerations expressed by successive cases of tax violence. The current level of tax burden is unbearable”, he denounces.
For this reason, the PSD intends to “strengthen the tax benefits related to investment and economic activity involving the PALOP and the CPLP, namely with the creation of a Multilateral Tax Agreement ‘that transforms Portugal into a financial center for investors in Portuguese-speaking countries , through a special exemption regime in the SGPS [Sociedades Gestoras de Participações Sociais], and in investment funds, in terms of dividends, capital gains, interest, royalties and amortization of goodwill”.
The President of the Republic convenes the legislatives anticipated for January 30th, following the “lead” of the State Budget for 2022, in parliament, on October 27th.