Lisbon – December 22, 2025 – A spirited debate between Catarina Martins and Jorge Pinto on RTP television Sunday night revealed starkly different visions for Portugal’s role in Europe, with the candidates clashing over issues ranging from the far-right to social security. The core disagreement? Whether Portugal should actively shape the European project or cautiously observe its trajectory. Portugal’s future within the European Union is a key question for voters as they head to the polls.
When asked about the key differences between their candidacies, Martins initially preferred to focus on her plans for the Belém presidential office. Pinto quickly countered, highlighting what he characterized as a concerning trend: “a moment when we have a Government with an inclination” to cooperate with the far-right Chega party.
“It is important to have a President of the Republic who helps to balance,” Pinto emphasized, adding, “I think I have knowledge of the country. I was involved in public policies, I have experience in creating solutions. At a time when there are so many blockages, my experience can help.”
Pinto acknowledged common ground, stating, “There are many points of convergence, even more than divergence. There are always points of convergence when we have left-wing candidates. There are also divergences.” He then steered the conversation toward Europeanism.
“In this specific case, there is a divergence that I don’t know if it is fundamental, which concerns Portugal’s role in European institutions. I am a critical but convinced Europeanist. I believe that the Portuguese future passes through the European project,” he argued, positioning himself as a defender of “Human Rights, a peace project and ecological transition.”
“I know that Catarina Martins said that the European project was a doomed project, I hope it isn’t,” Pinto stated, adding that the presidents of Russia and the United States, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, appear intent on dismantling the European project, posing “a threat to what we have managed to build over the last 50 years.”
“Different voices”
Martins responded by asserting that the European project “is being defined by divergent voices: “It is a political dispute like all others, democratic. We are not spectators, we are builders of the European Union.”
“For example, we foresee the possibility of referendums on European matters and in Portugal we have never done so,” she noted, insisting that “participation must be active, it must be democratic, and that “we must build Europe, in addition to talking, choosing the Europe we want.”
Martins pledged to be a president who would defend “European rights such as Social Security”, opposing “any project that puts pensions in Portugal at risk.” This was a direct challenge to European Commissioner Maria Luís Albuquerque, who advocates for European workers to contribute to private pension funds.
“What is concrete, what Catarina proposed following Brexit was a referendum on the Portuguese presence in the European Union. I’m not sure that’s the way to go. We realize the immense cost that Brexit had on the population [British],” Pinto retorted.
He also opposed the path advocated by the former Minister of Finance, now Commissioner, recalling that he did not concede “when we had Pedro Passos Coelho at the head of the country”.
“I’m not going to give up on the European Union. What’s wrong is for the left to give up fighting for the European project, because it’s always a game of forces,” he reiterated.
“I have always distanced myself from the Brexit movements,” Martins said, adding: “I proposed that there be a referendum on the budgetary treaty, when they wanted to impose sanctions on us and they did not impose them on France.”
“Authoritarian leaders are also sitting in the European Council, Viktor Orbán is there, Meloni is there. When we hand over to the Libyan coast guard how we deal with migratory movements, that is also the European Union. What I understand is the conflict of all the ideas in the European Union. I place myself in those that I think are important. I defend Human Rights,” she stressed.
Defense community
Pinto continued, “The concrete thing is to put a European defense community on the table.”
“Is Catarina Martins comfortable with this? I am. The Left Bloc is not,” he stated. “We don’t need to spend more, we need to spend better and this can be achieved by deepening this European cooperation.”
“I must say that I have proposed that there be a capacity for cooperation in Europe, which has autonomy in relation to the United States. We must talk to Europe and not just the European Union countries,” Martins countered.
Pinto reiterated that “it is a danger that we have all our eggs in one basket” and that it would be “bad to have a President of the Republic also on the right.” He highlighted that the president of the Republic “will be the system’s firefighter, the system’s last line of defense”, stressing that “nothing guarantees us that there will not be a serious threat to our republic”.
Debate on RTP between Catarina Martins and Jorge Pinto
Asked whether he would consider stepping aside in favor of António José Seguro – the only left-wing candidate currently polling for a second-round appearance – Pinto highlighted that the polls “say that there are a lot of undecided people.”
The Livre deputy added that “the main reason to vote for someone cannot be whoever is better in the polls” and argued for a candidate with “firmness and courage.”
In response, Martins stated that “it is difficult to know what António José Seguro thinks” and observed a “great proximity between Marques Mendes and António José Seguro.”
“There is often talk that if we choose the lesser evil, it stops the greater evil. But choosing the lesser evil has only caused the greater evil to grow”, observed the former coordinator of Bloco de Esquerda.
Pinto emphasized that any candidate reaching the second round must have “the clear conscience that they will do a good service to the Portuguese.” He acknowledged criticism from Manuel Alegre, who recently questioned left-wing parties’ presidential strategies, stating he had “respect” for the socialist but remembered Alegre had previously been “a victim of these types of statements” and disagreed with his current position.
“Present and mobilizing” and “against abandonment”
Regarding the presidential role, Martins rejected intervention “in the party game,” citing Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s practice of turning State Budgets into motions of censure. The MEP said she wanted to launch “debates that are not being launched.”
Pinto, in turn, said he wanted to be a “present and mobilizing” president. “I don’t want to be the judiciary of influence but of mobilization,” he said, advocating for “citizen assemblies,” starting with regionalization.
When asked about their motivations for running, Martins said that “we live in a country where those who work feel abandoned,” accusing the State of failing in “fundamental public services.”
The Bloco de Esquerda candidate argued that a president of the Republic, in current times, “has to be against the abandonment of the country and capable of making a democracy stronger.”
“We are in historic time to have a President of the Republic who can follow this path,” she asserted.
Pinto was adamant: “My causes are to comply with the constitution.” The Livre deputy promised a “constitutionalist presidency that leaves no one behind” and an “economic model that puts people at the center, that corrects gender inequalities.”
He also believes a president must defend “a new model for the country”, which always takes “the planet and the weakest” into account.
