Montenegro listed “regulating migration flows” as one of the challenges facing the European Union over the next five years, stressing that Europe cannot “forget its demographic indices.”
The PSD president argued on Wednesday that the fight against extremism “is only viable and will only be victorious” with good governments, pointing out that in Portugal Chega lost representation after three months of social democratic governance.
Speaking at the European People’s Party (EPP) conference in Cascais, Luís Montenegro stressed that, in the last European elections, of the 21 Portuguese MEPs, 17 belonged to “moderate political forces that are very committed to the European project”, including AD, PS and IL.
“But there is also an active far right in Portugal,” he said, noting that Chega won 50 seats in the legislative elections in March but had much less representation in the European elections in June.
“I don’t want to say that it was the responsibility of the first three months of the government of the party that I lead, but it is an important signal that I feel I must share with you,” he said.
The Portuguese Prime Minister and President of the PSD argued that “the fight against extremism is only viable and will only be victorious with good governments, with governments that effectively care about the real problems of people”, both in each Member State and in the European Union.
“We are the People’s Party, the Popular Party, we must always focus on the real problems of the people”he stated.
Montenegro listed the “regulation of migration flows” as one of the challenges facing the European Union over the next five years, stressing that Europe cannot “forget its demographic indices” and must be open, not only from an economic point of view, but also from a humanitarian one.
“We will only be able to offer good life plans to those who come to us if we have a regulated migration policy: we cannot allow ourselves to be intimidated by those who want to close the doors of Europe, but we cannot allow ourselves to be “enchanted by those who want the doors of Europe to be completely open,” he said, considering that it is necessary to “guarantee the security felt and perceived” by citizens.
At the beginning of his speech, Montenegro recalled the Portuguese Government’s support for the election of Socialist António Costa as President of the European Council.
“You know that, despite belonging to different political families, I have committed myself, personally and on behalf of my government, to ensuring that a socialist whom I fought against as a political opponent could be the next President of the European Council. I am confident in the choice made and, despite the political wars on governance in Portugal, I am well aware of his position and his ability to manage dialogue, negotiations and convergences,” he said.
Montenegro said that The EPP now has “justified reasons” to expect “the same behaviour from others”in reference to the support of socialists and liberals for the vote that should confirm Ursula Von der Leyen as president of the European Commission and Roberta Metsola as head of the European Parliament.
Montenegro arrived accompanied by Von der Leyen and was met by the former incumbent Durão Barroso, the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, and several MEPs elected by the PSD, including the head of the list, Sebastião Bugalho.
The EPP sessions will continue until Friday, mostly behind closed doors, including the intervention of the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, on Wednesday morning.
Source: Observadora
