The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, said this Sunday that the new leader of the PSD, Luís Montenegro, opposed a regionalization referendum in 2024 and considered that this process is very difficult to advance.
“I note that the leader of the PSD opposes the regionalization process and the holding of a regionalization referendum. And he records that. I am going to meditate on it,” Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa told reporters in São Paulo.
The head of state added that “this may mean that, in fact, it is necessary to bet more on decentralization as it is very difficult, with the main opposition leader opposing regionalizationthere will be regionalization in the near future”.
It is a new fact, which is actually a change in orientation of the PSD in relation to the previous direction by moving away from the convenience of the regionalization referendum. So that weighs, since it is an area where consensus is very important, ”he reinforced.
In the closing speech of the PSD Congress, Luís Montenegro argued that “it is not appropriate” to hold a referendum on regionalization in 2024, taking into account the current war situation in Ukraine and its economic and social effects.
If the government moves towards a referendum, it will not have the support of the PSD, Montenegro said.
On December 11 last year, at a congress of the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP), in Aveiro, the Prime Minister and Secretary General of the PS, António Costa, pointed to 2024 as the right time for a new referendum on regionalization. , after the path traveled in terms of decentralization of powers was evaluated at the end of 2023.
The next day, in the same place, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa declared that “the President of the Republic, in principle, will call a referendum that has parliamentary approval”, agreeing that the popular consultation be left for 2024, and urged the parties to present their ideas on regionalization until the early parliamentary elections.
When I was president of the PSD, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa opposed the creation of administrative regions in Portugalfighting for the “no” in the 1998 referendum, which he won with 60% of the vote.
Source: Observadora
