In the speech of the solemn session of the 50th anniversary of April 25th in parliament, his first as leader of the PS, Pedro Nuno Santos praised the movement of captains that "put an end to the oldest dictatorship in Western Europe" when Portugal "was a country of second-class citizens and where women were third-class citizens".

"The doors that April opened transformed a repressive State into a democratic and social State of law. It is true that the realization of April's dreams is an imperfect and still unfinished work, but the Portuguese have won", defended Pedro Nuno, with a red carnation on his lapel.

Stressing that the revolution "is more than history and more than memory", because "April is victory", the leader of the PS warned that "social and cultural advances often generate reactions of incomprehension and even rejection".

"The PS will be here to defend political democracy and social and cultural democracy from attacks by its new and old enemies. It was one and the other that April built. One and the other are under attack and one and the other will have our protection", he promised.

According to the socialist leader, "the challenges and problems faced by many families are not solved by populism" which is "a policy that exploits our most negative feelings, a harsh policy with the weak because it lacks the courage to be harsh with the strong", a moment that earned him one of the several rounds of applause he received from the entire left.

It is with "the spirit of victory of April 25th" -- the "initial day" and which Pedro Nuno Santos said there is "no other like it" -- that the PS faces the country's problems.

"These are challenges and problems that, 50 years later, are not solved with more liberalism and a State at the service of the minority", he warned.

According to Pedro Nuno Santos, "in the last 50 years the Portuguese have won the right to live with freedom, to love whoever they want and to form the family they desire" and "have won the right to be happy, without having to hide or feel ashamed of how they are and feel".

"April does not prohibit any family, April is freedom and joy and women, in recent decades, have emancipated and liberated themselves and no longer have to ask permission to seek their happiness", he defended.

The "sharing of power and the end of the hegemony of man generates resistance", according to the leader of the PS, criticizing those who "in the radical right promote and exploit it".

"But there is no longer any possible retreat: women in Portugal have already won the right to pursue their dreams", he said.

Using Capicua's words - "they are afraid that we are not afraid" -- Pedro Nuno made it clear that the Portuguese are not afraid.

"We know very well, as a people, what is at stake: preserving and defending what we have conquered; and resisting attempts at social, economic and cultural regression", he summarized.

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