PSD chairman Luís Montenegro will join the meeting with the prime minister at the new airport on Friday, accompanied by party vice chairman Miguel Pinto Luz.
In a short press release, the PSD announced that “Luís Montenegro will meet the Prime Minister” on Friday, as announced by António Costa on Wednesday, in response to a letter from the PSD president.
“PSD President Luís Montenegro and Vice President Miguel Pinto Luz will meet tomorrow, September 23 at 5 p.m., at the official residence of Prime Minister António Costa. Subject: New airport”adds the statement of the Social Democrats.
On Wednesday, Montenegro issued a letter to the Prime Minister, reporting on the conclusion of the process of hearings and internal reflection that the PSD had conducted since July, and stating the party’s five conditions to agree on the following method on the future airport solution in the Lisbon region.
The “immediate realization” of a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), completed within one year, for de Montijo, Alcochete “and any other that the government or structure responsible for making the SEA decides, on a reasonable and technical basis, to include” is one of the starting points of Montenegro.
After that, the PSD chairman asks to provide this evaluation “to personalities of recognized technical, academic and scientific merit” and that it is accompanied by a comparative analysis of the costs and implementation times of each of the sites surveyed, including the “related, complementary infrastructures” needed.
In the conclusions communicated to António Costa, the Social Democratic leader also reiterates the need to immediately start the requalification work of Humberto Delgado airport and to value the airports serving the North and the Algarve and the airport and Cascais.
In the letter, the PSD leader already informed the Prime Minister that the party’s “technical interlocutor” in this matter will be Vice President Miguel Pinto Luz.
Nevertheless, Montenegro stressed that the dialogue “it is and remains at the political level, limited to the prime minister on the one hand and the chairman of the PSD on the other hand,” in a text criticizing the order of the Ministry of Infrastructure – later revoked by António Costa – and without ever referring to the mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, who has already said that he cannot give up “a chair at table” in this discussion.
Shortly afterwards, the Prime Minister’s office issued a statement announcing a meeting with the PSD chairman in São Bento on Friday, in the presence of the Minister of Infrastructure, Pedro Nuno Santos, after he announced the “total availability” of Luís Montenegro. registered for convergence. at the new airport.
With regard to Luís Montenegro’s letter, “in essence”, António Costa emphasizes that he has the reaffirmation of the “total availability to achieve the greatest possible convergence” about “strategy for airport capacity development in the Lisbon region” and in particular “the mutual acceptance of the method to be followed”.
The only public meeting between António Costa and Luís Montenegro took place on July 22 and lasted three and a half hours, during which, according to the prime minister, “various topics” were discussed, including the future airport.
In a recent interview with TVI/CNN, António Costa said he is very close to agreeing with the PSD on “the methodology” to be followed for the location of the new Lisbon airport, in order to make a “final decision”. . end 2023
Source: DN
