Buoyed by the conquest of a parliamentary group of four deputies in the Assembly of the Republic, the best result in the party's history, Livre gathered this weekend for its 14th Congress, at the municipal pavilion of Costa de Caparica, in the municipality of Almada, in a climate of happiness but also of notorious "growing pains". Right on the first day, the deputy and founder of Livre listed "the missions" for the future: the party must be "ready to govern" in the next cycle, on the left, go from "medium to large" and function as an "exit door" for voters who want to fight the extreme right. For this, the party needs to show that in addition to being "reliable" -- having returned to parliament after overcoming the controversy with Joacine Katar Moreira and conquering the parliamentary group -- it is also "viable", without letting the divergences be "the main issue", he warned. In an attempt to turn the discourse outward, Tavares launched 'barbs' at several political adversaries, even accusing the PSD/CDS-PP executive of "ethical and moral disorientation" in its stance towards the extreme right. The great meeting ended with the room singing "Grândola, Vila Morena", a song by José Afonso, which was the password for the April 25 revolution, with the guests from the PS, BE, and PCP joining the chorus. The IL delegation remained seated. The growth of the party -- notorious in the stage structure and production of the congress -- was addressed in several speeches, namely by the candidate for the European elections and municipal deputy in Oeiras, Tomás Cardoso Pereira, who exclaimed before an enthusiastic audience that "Livre is no longer a small party" and has survived several announced deaths. But there were also warnings that this positive wave must be seen with "responsibility" and caution, with references to the fact that the PAN elected four deputies in 2019, but in the 2022 legislative elections it returned to single representation. The congress met to elect the new national bodies for the 2024-2026 term and the list for the Contact Group (leadership) led by Isabel Mendes Lopes and including Rui Tavares, as well as deputy Jorge Pinto, managed to win 61% of the votes, corresponding to 10 of the 15 seats. The remaining seats were attributed to list B, which got three, and list C, which secured two, after a great meeting in which it was heard that unity cannot mean "dilution", requests for openness and pluralism and the end of the "era of glorification of personalities" was defended. To a process of open primaries that generated controversy in the choice of the top candidate, Francisco Paupério, were added old criticisms of centralization of protagonism in the figure of Rui Tavares and now in the elected parliamentary group. Even admitting improvements in the internal statutes of a party that recently celebrated ten years, Rui Tavares repeatedly stressed the democratic nature of Livre's internal processes, and its unique character, such as open primaries or the election of 50 members to the Assembly, the highest body between congresses, who present themselves uninominally "without asking anyone's permission". As for the primaries, a specific motion was approved for the creation of a working group on the subject and several leaders admitted that it is necessary to improve them, without giving up the principle of openness to society. Asked about his political confidence in the top candidate for the European elections, or even in the speeches before the congressmen, Rui Tavares expressed it but always preferred to speak of a "team", with Francisco Paupério setting the bar at winning two MEPs in June. The electoral program for the European elections was approved, without votes against, but the measures were not debated by the members of Livre, in a discussion that ended up being dominated by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, demands for a ceasefire and the divergence over a proposed amendment that defended the explicit condemnation of Hamas, which ended up being changed. To the chapter on foreign policy, the need to help Ukraine defend itself through "adequate military means" was added to the text. Read Also: Ana Catarina Mendes welcomes Livre's appeal for unity against the extreme right (Portuguese version)