PSD president Luís Montenegro said on Sunday that he strongly disagrees with former Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho’s position on the decriminalization of euthanasia, saying that the former Social Democratic leader’s is “very closed”.
“I do not agree with Dr. Pedro Passos Coelho. I am very direct. I completely disagree with the position of Dr. Pedro Passos Coelho [sobre a eutanásia]🇧🇷 I disagree that he disagrees with holding a referendum on this issue. I disagree, because his position is very closed. Although I am usually against it, I don’t have such a closed position as him,” Luís Montenegro told journalists in Vila de Rei, where he inaugurated the new PSD headquarters.
The PSD leader today started a new week of the “Sentir Portugal” program, which will see him spend one week a month in each of the country’s districts for the next two years.
In a newspaper article online Observer, published last Thursday, the former Social Democratic Prime Minister (2011-2015) called on parties opposed to the decriminalization of euthanasia to commit transparently to reverting the law in the future, if they have a majority in parliament .
“More than waiting for a decision from the Constitutional Court”, when the president of the republic raises the issue, Passos Coelho wants the parties “against this ‘revolution’ of organizing euthanasia to commit transparently to to fight for its repeal” if we want to succeed in winning a majority of the deputies in the future.
The Social Democratic president argued that “a very big mistake has been made” by all those who have considered the PSD’s proposal for a referendum on the decriminalization of medically assisted death overdue.
“Is it there [proposta] It happens when it’s supposed to happen. Because? It is the third time that Parliament has attempted to legislate on this subject and the first time this has happened to me while I am serving as President of the PSD. I have been calling for a referendum on this issue for years,” he explained.
Montenegro also stressed that four bills had been discussed in parliament in June and that the Assembly of the Republic had meanwhile had its normal summer break.
“Work began after the summer, in mid-September, during the work of the working group set up to deal with the projects approved in June. About 10 days ago, a new text was consolidated that replaces the four voted on in June”to maintain.
In this regard, he stressed that from his point of view “the PSD and well, was waiting for the consolidation of the legislative process so that the question can correspond to what the majority in Parliament understands on this subject today”.
Luís Montenegro has also offered advice to anyone he believes has taken a hasty position when he believed the PSD initiative was overdue.
“To those who have considered this initiative too late, I would advise that there is less superficiality in the analysis of the situation, that they look at the legislative process, that they compare the four projects that were in June with the replacement text that new,” he insisted.
For the Social Democratic leader, this is “the right time to listen to the people” and he underlined that “the constitutional figure of the referendum must be used in these matters”.
Source: DN
