Lisbon, March 18, 2026 (Lusa) - The Socialist Party (PS) leader told Portugal's new president on Wednesday that the party will present measures to the government and parliament to respond to the effects of the war on the cost of living, showing "goodwill" to "serve the people's interest".

"We intend to present a set of several measures to the government and in parliament, with a view to responding to the effects of this global crisis on the cost of living, namely on inflation," José Luís Carneiro told journalists after the meeting with António José Seguro at the Belém Palace in Lisbon.

According to the PS secretary-general, the conversation with the head of state was "very constructive" and focused on the need for the country to respond "to the needs it is experiencing, both in the international framework and, particularly, in domestic life".

"We did not enter into that detailed discussion. Fundamentally, what I showed the president was the Socialist Party's goodwill to serve the people's interest, to serve the interest of the Portuguese, to serve our country, because that is the duty of a party with the PS's responsibility," he said when asked about the health pact proposed by António José Seguro during his presidential election campaign.

Wishing the former PS leader "the best of luck" in his presidential duties, Carneiro told journalists that he shared his "great concerns about people's lives" with Seguro. "On the one hand, the effects of the war and the international crisis we are experiencing on the cost of living and the need to respond to these needs of families, the cost to families, the cost to companies, and to be able to respond more to this crisis that will worsen in the coming period due to the war's consequences," he said. The PS secretary-general conveyed the party's "main concerns," such as housing, health, wages and the economy.

Regarding health, Carneiro recalled that the PS presented proposals last July "for the management and coordination of pre-hospital emergency management," also underlining the importance of "strengthening primary health care".

"There is a fundamental pillar, the pillar is the defence of the National Health Service as the fundamental pillar of healthcare provision, naturally in complementarity with the social and private sectors, but the National Health Service must be, for us, for the Socialist Party, the fundamental pillar of the response in primary healthcare," he said.

JF/LYT // AYLS

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