After a two-year absence from the Assembly of the Republic, the centrists returned to parliament and the Government, and met in Viseu to mark 50 years of existence and to counter the thesis that these achievements were only due to the PSD, through the Democratic Alliance (AD) coalition.

"Neither the CDS was a crutch, nor the PSD a surrogate mother", stressed Nuno Melo on the first day of the grand meeting, which brought together about a thousand congressmen at the Pavilhão Cidade de Viseu, whom he appealed to never feel like "minor partners" of the AD, but rather "allies".

The tone for the grand meeting was set, underlined from the outset by the historical former president Manuel Monteiro, who stressed that the PSD only won the legislative elections "because the CDS was there" and also by the leader and current Secretary of State for Internal Administration, Telmo Correia.

"If it weren't for the CDS, the prime minister, instead of being called Luís Montenegro, would be called, to our misfortune, Pedro Nuno Santos [secretary-general of the PS]", defended the government official.

In a short video shown at the grand meeting, the former leader and former deputy prime minister, Paulo Portas, stressed that "the vote of the Portuguese in the framework of the Democratic Alliance also expressed the desire that the voice of Christian democracy, open to liberals and conservatives, should return to parliament and to government", appealing to the centrists to "prove well, with competence in service" at a time when they are assuming new responsibilities.

In addition to wanting to show that the CDS "is useful", "necessary" and was decisive in the electoral victory of March, the centrists also made a point of remembering that they have their values and their uniqueness, highlighting the "preservation of the family", the opposition to abortion and medically assisted death and the defense of regulated immigration with "rigor in entry and humanity in integration".

Manuel Monteiro, one of the authors of the controversial book "Identity and Family", even warned that "it is good that the coalition partner knows that the government is of two parties and not just one", that values "are not negotiated" and that the party does not have to "apologize for being against abortion", stressing that there is no "thought police" in the country.

There were also some militants who warned that the "identity of the CDS would be diluted in oranges" and defended that the party could not "sleep in the shade of the orange tree".

Several centrists expressed their gratitude to Nuno Melo for having managed to bring the CDS-PP back to the Assembly of the Republic and to the Government, and the only criticism came from the voice of the former leader Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos, who was not in Viseu and took advantage of his commentary space on CNN Portugal to accuse the party of being a "private club with doors closed to renewal" and admitted to leaving the party.

Melo was re-elected president with 89.3% of the votes of the delegates and with a global strategic motion approved unanimously.

The leader of the CDS-PP outlined as objectives to have a party with more women and young people, renewed, that is not afraid to be modern, however, he presented a list to the national political commission of continuity, keeping all the vice-presidents who accompanied him in the last two years.

In his closing speech at the congress, the also Minister of National Defense announced that the Government will create a commission for the commemorations of November 25, 1975.

As head of the Defense portfolio, Melo assumed the mission of stopping "the decline in recruitment" of the Armed Forces and, regarding the European elections, warned that the choice will be between "tolerance and extremism", appealing to the Portuguese so that they "do not let themselves be fooled".

The congress was marked by several delays in the start of the work, something that is already common in the CDS, with one of the congressmen expressing displeasure with this fact.

"It is already part of the CDS's DNA", joked the president of the Board.

Read Also: PSD wants CDS "in full form". PS heard a "not very enthusiastic" speech (Portuguese version)