The game has changed, to the right. Luís Montenegro made more categorical statements than ever this Wednesday to draw a red line with Chega. On Sunday evening in Funchal, in the context of the regional elections, he had said: “We are not going to govern Madeira or the country with the support of Chega, because it is not necessary.” Given the noise the phrase “because we don’t need it” created, what would the PSD do if Chega was needed? -, Luís Montenegro clarified this Wednesday: “I know there is a lot of theorizing about the formula I chose to express my point of view – it was always the same, perhaps in different ways. The time has come when it is not worth dwelling on this subject any longer: no, it is not.”
In other words, “It is not worth raising this issue further.” “I will never enter into a political governance agreement with Chega“If I ever face a scenario where I have to give up my principles and values and my word, I will not waver. I will always stand on the side of my principles and my values. No, it’s not, periodMontenegro said during a press conference at the PSD’s national headquarters in Lisbon.
“The national leader of the PSD is fully comfortable with a solution that allows conditions for governance in Madeira. If the issue ever arises in the context of parliamentary elections, we will assume the responsibilities that we have to shoulder.”
Montenegro went even further. Implicitly, he admitted that the agreement in Madeira between the PSD and the PAN could one day, if appropriate, be extended at national level: “The national leader of the PSD is completely comfortable with a solution that would allow conditions of governance in Madeira makes possible. As soon as the issue arises in the context of parliamentary elections, we will assume the responsibilities that we must assume.” And he added that the agreement celebrated in Madeira “does not contradict the values and principles of the PSD”, nor with the party’s support for farmers, “the rural world and its values”.
At the same time, he made an attempt to maintain bridges with the Liberal Initiative at the national level, even though these bridges had been broken in the archipelago: ‘The relationship between the two political forces in a national context does not have to be the relationship in a regional context things differently.”
Discomfort in the CDS-PP
The CDS-PP – the PSD’s partner in the coalition that won in Madeira – made it clear that it is uncomfortable with the fact that Miguel Albuquerque chose the PAN, and not IL, to conclude the agreement that would see an absolute majority in Madeira’s parliament appoints the next regional government. government. Nuno Melo, president of the CDS-PP, pointed out in statements to Lusa that the parliamentary influence agreement signed in Madeira between PSD and PAN was a “process [que] sidelined” the centrists, and also said he would have preferred an agreement with the Liberal Initiative. The solution “results from an agreement between the PSD/Madeira and the PAN, in which the CDS did not participate”, with the “Agreement of the President of the Regional Government”, he stated, emphasizing that the PAN will be in the next regional government will not be present, “only PSD and CDS-PP are part of it”.
“I admit that regional circumstances in a small territorial space and where people know each other, personal aspects may have been important in a decision whose contours I do not know, because I did not participate in it.”
The centrist leader also pointed out that regional party structures “have their own statutes, are autonomous” and make decisions “without the interference of parties at the national level.” “For the CDS at the national level, the PAN is a party that has nothing to do with the CDS from an ideological point of view and is fighting the CDS,” he emphasized, as “the CDS is closer to the IL than the PAN. “It is clear that, as far as the CDS is concerned, the option for the PAN or the Liberal Initiative is an option for the Liberal Initiative,” he also said. But adding: “Despite this, I admit that regional circumstances in a small territorial space where people know each other, personal aspects may have had weight in a decision whose contours I do not know, because I did not participate in it.” Nuno Melo also opined that “the matters made public regarding the agreement between PSD and PAN with parliamentary influence are innocuous matters that would be difficult to refuse by any party in the Legislative Assembly” of Madeira, and that some agreed measures were even “already part of the law”. of the Madeira Program Coalition”.
In Madeira, the regional leader of the CDS-PP, Rui Barreto, confirmed that the party was not included or found in the agreement the PSD signed with the PAN.
“This matter was not up to me. It was an agreement between the leading party of the Somos Madeira coalition [o PSD] and that is correct, because it must be the leading party of the coalition We are Madeira to establish contacts with the parties that showed themselves available on election night in order to reach an agreement that is as robust as possible,” Barreto said, speaking to journalists at the Palácio de São Lourenço in Funchal, after being received by the representative of the Republic, Ireneu Barreto. , who this Wednesday started listening to the parties that received parliamentary representation after Sunday’s regional parliamentary elections.
“The issues raised by the PAN at national level that conflict with the national CDS have no right to exist in the Autonomous Region of Madeira. The matters taken to establish the agreement [de incidência parlamentar] They are peaceful matters. And therefore there will be no problem.”
Regarding Nuno Melo’s statements, Barreto said that they are worth what they are worth, but that in Madeira the CDS of Madeira is in charge. “On the continent, I understand, the national leader of the CDS has all the legitimacy and authority to express opinions,” he said. To then add: “In Madeira, the CDS/Madeira also has its autonomy to decide what is best for the interests of Madeira and Porto Holy.”
Rui Barreto, who is also regional secretary of economy in the PSD/CDS-PP coalition government, downplayed the ideological issues regarding the PAN. “The matters raised by the PAN at national level that contradict the national CDS have no reason to exist in the Autonomous Region of Madeira,” he said, emphasizing that “the matters taken to to conclude the agreement [de incidência parlamentar] they are peaceful matters.” “And therefore, he concluded, there will be no problem.”
Source: DN
