The president of the republic will host the Azores parties tomorrow after the region’s budget failed in a divided parliament. Of the 57 deputies from the Azores, 28 voted against the regional bills, 27 in favor and two – from Chega and PAN – abstained, leaving Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa to speak. However, independent deputy Carlos Furtado (former Chega), who had made the regional document viable, threatens to change the voting direction if Chega and PAN try to make premature changes.
“It is childish and irresponsible that there are parties that are now asking for an extension of the game,” independent MP Carlos Furtado told DN yesterday, for whom the time “to discuss and present budget proposals” has already passed. in the discussion surrounding the regional budget.
Carlos Furtado points to José Pacheco, from Chega, and Pedro Neves, from PAN, who remained neutral at the time when the independent opinion should have been a decision. ‘I don’t think it’s normal to spend time on this discussion [do Orçamento], no one says anything and then, at the end, they say, “We’re going to start over, because I was distracted, but this time it’s going to be real.” I find it childish and realizing that this is not serious behavior, I don’t know what negotiations they will try to conduct now”criticizes the independent deputy.
As for the PAN, what is at stake for Carlos Furtado is the fact that the party presented “more than 20 proposed changes in the budget and not even discussed”. “That is why the PAN generally abstained from voting in the belief that its proposals would not even belong to the specialty,” he explained.
As for the party he joined: “the person in question has not even proposed any changes. Therefore, the person does not agree with the document and does not say why he does not agree with it, nor does he present proposed changes”finishes.
DN contacted PAN deputy Pedro Neves, who sent a statement moments after Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s hearing.
For his part, Chega deputy José Pacheco explained to DN that he abstained from voting on the budget because he did not see the party’s proposals approved in the previous budget, even though he emphasized that he is open to dialogue with the president of the party. Regional Government of the Azores, José Manuel Bolieiro. “We are not blackmailing any government. In fact, what we are saying is so true that since the almost twenty points that we had committed in the previous budget were not achieved, this year we thought it best not to. We simply said: “Look, we have nothing to include in the budget to stop, because what was left remains to be fulfilled,” he emphasized.
Despite confirming that he is considering the possibility of voting in favor of a budget that Bolieiro presents to replace the previous one, and without “asking for appointment positions”, José Pacheco brings proposals around “housing” and social support into the discussion. “I am not going to guarantee that I will vote in favor without understanding that there are conditions. Because they gave their word a year ago that they would fully comply with everything we asked for, and the housing was already there, and the addition was already there, a series of things were already there. And what’s the point now feel like having another commitment for half a dozen months? There is no point. And I told the president of the government that everything we presented had to have consequences, that is no longer laying the foundation stone. Now it cannot remain on paper and we will soon see when it will be ready. Our abstention is the result of three years of making promises that never came to fruition.”finishes.
Chega’s deputy guarantees that he spoke with Bolieiro during the budget discussion and does not close the door to an agreement. But there is one obstacle that Carlos Furtado can overcome. “We spoke as adults and from my side there was the commitment that I was available to talk, I will not close the door,” he says of José Manuel Bolieiro, adding that “these days there are background noises. There is an independent there deputy who says: if the government negotiates with Chega and PAN, who vote against the budget. I mean, this is no way to go into politics, it is no way to defend our people,” he criticizes.
When asked if he meant Carlos Furtado, José Pacheco confirmed. “I’m trying my best here to think, ‘Come on, let’s try, let’s talk, let’s see where we can go.’ And then we have a guy who comes along and says, ‘If this is to negotiate with the PAN and with Chega, the conversation ends here.’ This gentleman has just created an artificial crisis.”he accuses.
Source: DN
