The chairman of Chega, André Ventura, this Tuesday challenged the PSD to build “an alternative” government to the right, defending the need for an understanding until next year’s European elections.
At the end of an audience of about an hour with the President of the Republic at the Belém Palace in Lisbon, asked about his re-election as president of Chega at the convention in late January, André Ventura said he had spoken to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s commitment to “start building an alternative that should be ready by the time of the European elections and within a medium-term framework”.
Speaking to journalists flanked by Marta Trindade, vice president of the party, the leader of Chega said that the construction of this alternative “also depends on the PSD”, so “it must be a job done by two”.
André Ventura indicated that he was not talking about “neither coalitions nor agreements”.
“When I say an alternative, nobody is going to sign an agreement. We have to make the country, the president, the Portuguese feel that there is an alternative if we have to make that choice.” stressed out.
Ventura indicated that he had not yet spoken to the leader of the PSD, Luís Montenegro, but defended that “more than dialogue, than phone calls and meetings, there must be a convergence in criticism and resolution”.
“What’s important is not the number of times I talk to Luís Montenegro on the phone or Luís Montenegro is on the phone with me, it’s about whether there are common points in parliament, which is the house of democracy in the action of criticism – and there are many times, with different styles, as happened now in Banif, in the criticism of ministers, in the Commission of Inquiry – and there are also some common alternative solutions,” he defended.
Despite not yet inviting the Social Democratic leader to a meeting to discuss this issue, Chega’s president is confident that it will happen: “It would be bad if the PSD leader refused to accept the leader of the third largest Portuguese party. for no apparent reason, as I would meet any other leader”.
“I think this is the best time for that. If Luís Montenegro doesn’t want it now, if he prefers it closer to the summer… I think the most important thing is to have political contact from now on,” he said. .
Chega’s president expected that Madeira’s regional elections later this year could be a “first test” of the “final governance scenario”.
“The president recognizes, as we recognize, the need for an alternative. And he has already said that under no circumstances can he take any initiative that would end this majority if there is no alternative”
André Ventura insisted that “an alternative must be created between Chega and PSD”: “We cannot reach the European elections without any alternative. It is up to us to say that to the Portuguese”, he stressed.
Chega’s president also believed that “the president of the republic is well aware of this scenario”.
“The president recognizes, as we recognize, the need for an alternative. And he has already said that under no circumstances can he take any initiative that would end this majority if there is no alternative,” he said.
“If we don’t do it, we can’t complain or ask the president of the republic to dissolve parliament,” he stressed.
Asked about the resignation of Joana Mendonça, president of the National Innovation Bureau, who claimed that there were no preconditions for her to remain in office, Ventura believed that “it shows how this climate of disintegration continues in the highest organs of the state apparatus and how it’s so important for such an alternative”.
To journalists, the President of Chega indicated that the diploma on medically assisted death – recently declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court and consequently vetoed by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa – was another topic discussed during the audience with the President of the Republic.
Ventura pushed for a referendum to be held, saying it was “unnecessary to go back to penalizing euthanasia and medically assisted death with a new legislative process that was rushed into action,” and indicated that Chega’s deputies “will be demanding are in the legislative process”.
Source: DN
