Last Monday, the PSD chairman also expressed his fear to the president of the republic that “the government does not understand the real situation of the Portuguese” and reserved other topics of conversation for “the modesty of the institutional relations” between the two.
At the end of a meeting of about 45 minutes with the President of the Republic, at the request of the leader of the PSD, in Palácio de Belém, which was scheduled as “an audience for the leader of the opposition”, Luís made Montenegro made only one statement to journalists, without answering questions, in which he said he should continue the “Sentir Portugal” initiative, dedicated this week to the Lisbon district.
“I have informed the President of the Republic that I am concerned because it seems that the government does not understand the real situation many Portuguese live in and that is bad because it does not bode well for the future in terms of changing public policies” , he said, reiterating that “the country is moving towards impoverishment”.
Even before journalists had the opportunity to ask questions, Montenegro admitted that “several aspects that should not be disclosed” were covered at the meeting.
“They work in the privacy of institutional cooperation relations and institutional cooperation between a major party like the PSD and the President of the Republic. As for aspects more involved in that privacy of the institutional relationship, understand that I am not going to talk about them,” he said.
“So far I keep feeling Portugal in Lisbon,” he said goodbye.
Luís Montenegro says he spoke with Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa about the “political, economic and social situation of the country and some topics of importance to the life of the Portuguese”.
“We see this as a very unique moment in which we live in two countries: the land of ‘powerpoint’, parties, advertisements and the land of everyday life, of real life, of the routine of many Portuguese who live every day for the difficulty of not having money to cover basic expenses,” he said.
As examples, he pointed to the difficulty of those who “want to go to the health center and don’t have a GP”, “want to go to the emergency room and it is often closed”, have children in schools “where there are no teachers” or have “large difficulties in paying the house payments or in renting a house”.
“So there is a country that has this great difference between the government’s message, the enthusiasm, even some euphoria in the announcements and great works of the PRR, and the hardships of the daily life of Portuguese families,” he reflected.
Luís Montenegro’s hearing with Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa took place in the context of the “Sentir Portugal” initiative, and after a week in which both publicly disagreed on whether the PSD is now an alternative to the government.
A week ago, the President of the Republic again ruled out the possibility of dissolution, citing the situation and the lack of “an obvious alternative in political terms”, and Luís Montenegro then responded to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who said had made sure he was not in his pocket, neither the government nor the opposition.
“The PSD and its leader are not in anyone’s pocket, they have complete independence in their political action and the PSD assures the country, the Portuguese and the President of the Republic that it is an alternative to the PS government and that we are ready to take all the consequences of an alternative when it is expedient,” said Montenegro.
The day after these statements, the head of state promised to warn if one day he changed his position on the question of the political alternative and the interruption of the legislature, faced with the statement of the PSD president that he is ready to make a . to be government.
In an interview with CNN on Friday, the PSD chairman rejected that the party could make government appointments or gain the support of “racist or xenophobic, opportunist or populist policies or politicians.”
In the same interview, Montenegro defended that the President of the Republic should not be “neither a helper nor an obstacle” to the opposition, admitting that the party was not always keen to hear the views of the head of state.
“Europeans on June 9 is the green way for historical abstinence”
The PSD president suggested this Tuesday that if the government fails to prevent the European elections on June 9, there should be “an alternative date” for Portugal to retain the right to vote.
At the end of an audience with the President of the Republic in Belém, Luís Montenegro reiterated the concerns he had already expressed about the likely date of next year’s European elections.
“If it is June 9, we will present a green way for a historic abstinence,” he said, recalling that in Portugal it is a holiday on June 10 and in many municipalities, including Lisbon, also on the 13th.
The PSD president defended that the Portuguese government should look for one of two options: “Either that the elections be scheduled on a different day – May 26, June 2 or even June 16 – or that the alternative date, i.e. one that could take place on two different occasions in the space of the Member States of the European Union”.
Montenegro considered that this is not impossible and would help to increase participation.
The government received the parties last week (all expressed the same concern) and added that it is working with Brussels to prevent the European elections from being scheduled for June 9, 2024 due to the proximity of the holidays, and to ensure that if this is not possible, it will try to mitigate the effects of abstinence.
The last two European elections, in 2019 and 2014, took place at the end of May, after the 27 member states agreed to change the original date of the elections.
The only time European elections were ‘glued’ to national holidays was recently in 1994: they were held on Sunday 12 June, with Portugal Day the Friday before and Saint Anthony’s Day in Lisbon the following Monday.
The President of Chega will be received by the President of the Republic on Wednesday, an audience requested by André Ventura, in which he will ask Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa for clarification if he accepts a government solution that includes his party.
This hearing was already requested at the beginning of the month after the adoption of the new decree on medically assisted death, which Chega opposed, and takes place one day after the President of the Republic received PSD leader Luís Montenegro.
Source: DN
