"I, who belong to an older generation, must tell you this clearly: we are witnessing a brutal transfer of wealth from the young to the old, because the vested interests do not want change," said João Cotrim Figueiredo in the presentation of the IL manifesto for the European elections of June 9, which took place in the Jardim da Estrela, in Lisbon, and was attended by the party president, Rui Rocha.

The former leader and candidate for MEP defended that it is not acceptable that "the pension system is not changed", which he considers "mortgaging future pensions" or that "the labor legislation that protects those who have jobs and ignores those who do not, especially the young, is not changed".

"We cannot accept that the frozen rents of old housing, of those who already have a house, are not changed, when this leads to higher rents for those who do not have a house", he said, also defending that subsidies and bureaucracy "that protect large companies that already exist are not acceptable, when this prevents the birth of those that do not yet exist or the growth of the smallest".

"We need to get Europe moving. We need not to be afraid of reforming. We need not to be afraid of uninstalling vested interests", he pointed out, considering that only in this way will Europe be able to return to having more economic growth.

To increase wealth creation in the EU, the IL advocates the completion of the single market, the repeal of two rules for each new one approved and the investment in European rail links.

In addition to the lack of wealth creation, Cotrim Figueiredo pointed out transparency and the guarantee of freedoms as the main challenges of the European Union.

"Portugal must aim to be a country that is not dependent on European Funds. And with the enlargement this moment may come closer and Portugal is not prepared. Decades of structural funds, more than 160 billion euros received and we are not prepared", he lamented.

The head of the IL list defended a greater participation of national parliaments and local authorities in the planning and execution of funds and "much greater supervision, both for moral and economic reasons".

"And we want to improve the selection process for European prosecutors, avoiding political interference as happened in the PS Government, in order to strengthen the independence and confidence of the European Public Prosecutor's Office", he said.

Cotrim Figueiredo considered that currently "freedoms are not guaranteed" in the European space and announced that the IL will support the Conditionality Mechanism.

"If a Member State does not respect the rules, if it has authoritarian tics, it should not be able to exercise its full rights as a Member State, nor receive European money. Even more clearly: the threats to the rule of law and the separation of powers in Hungary and the violations of fundamental rights of LGBT people are not acceptable in the European Union", he criticized.

On migrations, he defended that "it cannot be a taboo subject, nor be exclusive to populists who want to do politics at the expense of the misfortune of others".

"We have to have a migration policy: humane and fair with those who are eligible, firm with those who are not eligible and - uncompromising with the trafficking networks that take advantage of the desperation of migrants", he said, reiterating the "unconditional support for Ukraine".

The reinforcement of European security and defense and the strategic autonomy of Europe were other ideas included in the IL electoral manifesto and highlighted by the head of the list.

The last European elections, in 2019, were the first electoral act in which the IL stood (after its foundation in 2017), having obtained less than 30,000 votes (0.88% of the total).

17 political forces are running in the European elections and the official campaign runs from May 27 to June 7.

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