The president of Chega defended this Thursday the dissolution of the Assembly of the Republic and the call for early elections, maintaining that the Government cannot continue in office, and will request an urgent debate with the president of the Government.
“We understand that the dissolution of the Assembly of the Republic is the path to take at this time and that early elections be called so that the Portuguese can say if they want to continue living in this swamp or if they want an alternative solution. “, said André Ventura, at a press conference, considering that “this is a government without conditions to continue in office, there are ten resignations, two of them fundamental ministers in the political weight of the Government.”
The Chega leader was speaking to journalists at the party’s national headquarters, in Lisbon, after the resignation of the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Pedro Nuno Santos. The president and the deputy pointed out that this situation reveals “a government in very deep disintegration, with a constant loss of authority and political prestige inside and outside the country”, “undermines the credibility of António Costa” and “questions the authority policy of all ministries”.
“The regular functioning of the institutions is at stake,” he defended, considering that the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, “must consider very well” the holding of new legislative elections and must listen to the parties about “the conditions that the executive has to maintain governability”.
André Ventura indicated that the party will vote in favor of the motion of censure that the Liberal Initiative announced that it will present in the Assembly of the Republic, but considered that “in a scenario like this, it is the President of the Republic who has to make a decision.” “. “The President of the Republic cannot hide behind Parliament in this case, because he knows that there is an absolute majority and he knows that a decision must be made that the people also expect of him,” he stressed. As for the President of the Government, Ventura defended that “if António Costa has a bit of political dignity”, he should resign.
The president of Chega also affirmed that his party does not care about the electoral results, pointing out that “Chega is the third political force and according to the polls it would continue to be the third political force”, but rather the perspective that the country is capable of “changing of government”. “The right is not at its most organized moment, but everything is better than the government leading us to the abyss,” he defended.
In this press conference, André Ventura also indicated that, like the PSD, “Chega will request an urgent debate in parliament next week with the presence of the Prime Minister, António Costa, so that he himself can explain why, what event and the political conditions that, in his perspective, he has to govern”.
The Chega leader pointed out that, despite the most recent resignations in the Government, “there are still questions to be answered” because “this case is not closed” and defended that Parliament come together to request a “complete audit”. to TAP accounts”. Pointing out that the “greater clarifications would have to be given by Pedro Nuno Santos”, Ventura considered that, “for this resignation to take place, Pedro Nuno Santos knew about the entire situation” and “when he asks TAP for clarifications, he is lying.” the President of the Republic and he is lying to the country”.
Ventura also defended that the executive president of TAP, Christine Ourmières-Widener, “of all those involved, we are the least capable of continuing.”
The Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Pedro Nuno Santos, resigned on Wednesday night to “assume political responsibility” for the case of compensation of 500,000 euros from TAP to the former Secretary of State for Finance. This has been the third resignation of the Government in two days, after Alexandra Reis, from the Treasury portfolio, at the center of the controversy over compensation, and the Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Hugo Santos Mendes, who followed Pedro’s decision Nuno Santos. .
The Minister of Finance, Fernando Medina, dismissed the Secretary of State for Finance on Tuesday, less than a month after the inauguration of Alexandra Reis and after four days of controversy over the compensation of 500,000 euros from TAP, supervised by Pedro Nuno Santos. Alexandra Reis received compensation for her early departure, in February, as executive administrator of the airline. In June she was appointed by the Government to chair the Portuguese Air Navigation (NAV) and this month she was elected Secretary of State for the Treasury.
The decision to indemnify Alexandra Reis, reported by Correio da Manhã, was criticized by the entire opposition and even questioned by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, when he said that it would be “beautiful” to do without Monto.
Source: Observadora
