João Oliveira delivered this afternoon, at the Constitutional Court, the list of CDU candidates for the European elections, accompanied by the national representative of the candidacy, João Rodrigues, the previous head of the list of the coalition for the same elections, João Ferreira, and several leaders of the PCP and the PEV.

In statements to journalists, the candidate stated that the CDU is going into the elections "with great confidence", based on the recognition of the work it has done and for presenting a list of people committed to defending the rights of the people, of the workers and of the populations".

When asked if the CDU aims to re-elect three MEPs - which has not happened since 2014 -, João Oliveira refused to set "excessively optimistic goals", but stressed that there are conditions to strengthen the coalition.

"The strengthening of the CDU is effectively within reach of the result we need to build, with this electoral campaign that we are going to do, which will be marked by what characterises the CDU electoral campaigns: we will dispense with folklore and media attention, the wars of rosemary and marjoram, we will do a campaign of clarification, of information and of mobilisation for the vote", he guaranteed.

João Oliveira stressed that the CDU has verified that the electoral campaigns "are often marked by the transformation of what is secondary and accessory into main issues" and anticipated that, in these European elections, there will be those who will seek to claim that "what is at stake is something distant, which has little to do with everyday life and national reality".

"We are committed to demonstrating that this is not the case. We are committed to demonstrating that these elections have everything to do with the reality we live in on a daily basis", he stressed, adding that matters such as the valorisation of careers in public administration or investment in housing require "courage to implement a national policy and face the impositions of the European Union (EU)".

Questioned about statements he made this Saturday in an interview with SIC Notícias - in which he said that Portugal should "prepare to leave the euro" -, João Oliveira stressed that, "unlike other political forces", the CDU does not hide "that the euro has had as a consequence for the country very serious problems such as the stagnation of wages, the degradation of the economic situation, the loss of fundamental instruments and levers for national development".

"What we say about this is clear: the consequences of the euro are deeply harmful to our country and we need to face them, creating conditions to free ourselves from these rules and conditions that are harmful to our country and development", he said.

This, he continued, "is not a sudden act, it has to be a process that has to be done by preparing the country and a process developed in articulation with other countries that are going through similar difficulties, defending the incomes, the savings, the living conditions of the Portuguese".

Earlier, João Rodrigues told journalists that it is a "privilege" to be the national representative of the CDU candidacy for the European elections, stressing that the coalition's list is made up of "15 women and 14 men", from "the four corners of the country and from different professional sectors, from teachers to workers".

"The candidates embody the objectives of this candidacy: to ensure that, in these elections, there is a programme at the service of the sovereign development of the country, which refuses interference by institutions that, such as the European Commission or the European Central Bank, make the lives of the working classes more difficult", he stressed.

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