"In the next European elections, the choice at the ballot box will be between tolerance and extremism, between those who see themselves in the leadership of Helmut Kohl, Margaret Thatcher or Carl Bildt and the new worshippers of Putin or Lukashenko. Between those who politically fight for the liberation of Ukraine, and those who vote in our democracies, but walk around Moscow's Red Square, wearing the face of the Russian dictator on their T-shirts", he defended.

Nuno Melo, re-elected president today with 89.3% of the votes of the congressmen, was speaking at the closing session of the 31st CDS-PP Congress, in Viseu.

The centrist leader stressed that, in Portugal, the option "will be between those who are friends and allies of some, and those who are friends and allies of others".

"I appeal to the Portuguese: do not be fooled. We have a war at the gates of the EU and NATO borders, which threatens our present and your future. You have in the vote the political weapon necessary to defend the concept of the West and freedom, expressed in the parties that defend the European project", he warned.

For Nuno Melo, this concept "is today threatened by the growth of the far left, nostalgic for Soviet imperialism, and by the far right, sympathetic and sometimes allied with Putin's imperialism".

"For different reasons, both are opponents of the European Union as we conceive it",

Melo also wanted to leave a guarantee: "In these European elections, as in all the others, the CDS-PP will fight for freedom, tolerance and the survival of the European project, in democracy. We have never had any doubts about the right side of history".

Earlier, Nuno Melo dedicated a word to the coalition partner, the PSD, stressing that for the eighth time in the history of democracy the two parties are together again in the Government.

"This was the case because, after eight years of socialism, the two parties joined forces, cadres and votes, creating a new project for Portugal, which allowed the defeat of the PS and the left and the beginning of a centre-right alternative that brought new hope.

Melo guaranteed that "the Portuguese voted for change and will have change" and "asked for dialogue and will have dialogue".

"Led in government by Luís Montenegro, we will know how to live up to the times and our circumstances", he assured.

At the beginning, Melo presented "heartfelt condolences" for the death of journalist Pedro Cruz, at the age of 53, victim of lung cancer.

Moments before, a video was shown with excerpts from speeches by all the former leaders of the party, from the founder Freitas do Amaral, Francisco Lucas Pires, Adriano Moreira, Manuel Monteiro, Paulo Portas, Ribeiro e Castro, Assunção Cristas, Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos, ending with Nuno Melo.

Read Also: Nuno Melo re-elected president of CDS-PP with 89.3% of the votes (Portuguese version)