The president of the PSD warned Monday in Santarém that “the absolute majority is not absolute power” and “does not mean that the prime minister owns all this, to do what is not welcomed by fate” .
Luís Montenegro, who will be attending the National Agricultural Fair (FNA) this Monday, which will take place until Sunday at the National Center for Exhibitions and Agricultural Markets (CNEMA), in Santarém, asked António Costa to wake up to the fact that farmers who lost “confidence” and “patience” with the Department of Agriculture.
“The prime minister must be shaken up, the prime minister must say something”he appealed, after being questioned about the fact that no member of the government had been invited to visit the FNA, in his view a sign that “the sector has lost confidence, patience with the Ministry of Agriculture”.
For Montenegro, António Costa’s “stubbornness” in not wanting to change “the frameworks” of policy for the sector “has a price” as it leaves farmers “with more difficulties”.
“I have lost hope myself, it is too long to insist on a government solution that is not accepted in practice”he stated, lamenting that António Costa thinks that “because he had the election result he had in January 2022, he will be in charge forever”.
“It won’t. He won’t stay, nor will the Socialist Party stay”he said, stating that the PSD is “increasingly involved” in the social and economic fabric of the country and that there will be “an agricultural policy in Portugal” again in the future.
After recalling the Prime Minister’s statement asking for respect for the results of the parliamentary elections, Montenegro said Costa “does not have the moral authority to demand respect for the election results”.
Earlier, the PSD leader asked the government to “fill the gap in agricultural policy in Portugal” and asked António Costa and Agriculture Minister Maria do Céu Antunes to be on the side of the farmers.
Montenegro pointed to delays in applications and difficulties in accessing finance for farmers, citing the example of the Azores, where the aid plan failed to cope with rising production costs, he said.
“There is actually a flawed agricultural policy in the government, there is a void within the government on agriculture that needs to be filled once and for all, because we are talking about a lot of people, using natural resources, occupying the territory , to be more self-sufficient in food, to reconcile agriculture, forest, environmental conservation and biodiversity”he claimed.
Source: DN
