“They even spared MP André Ventura from fulfilling his promise to create a shadow government because the shadow government is already here: it’s this government, in the shadow of Chega and without a hint of an idea about the debate that could be held with the parties that recognize themselves in this Republic and don’t want to destroy it regarding the future of the country,” criticized Livre’s spokesperson during the parliamentary debate on the state of the nation.
Rui Tavares addressed Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, accusing him of making André Ventura, not the leader of the opposition, but “leader of the situation.”
The Livre deputy criticized the government for having dialogued so far only with Chega, PS, and IL, but sarcastically thanked him for not being invited to “a farce where they pretend to dialogue and end up doing what Chega wants.”
Recalling that the head of the executive and PSD leader, Luís Montenegro, repeatedly used the expression “no means no” during the electoral campaign when referencing Chega, Tavares admitted that “in fine print” this could only refer to potential pre- and post-electoral coalitions.
But what people “heard loud and clear,” he continued, is that the PSD, as a founding party of democracy, would stand “against misinformation, against inhumanity, against the way the far-right has to dehumanize, to hate, and to divide nations, precisely with the theme of immigration in Portugal or anywhere in the world.”
In response, Luís Montenegro stated that the government has “memory and responsibility” and wants to fulfill its program, with which Livre will naturally disagree.
This does not mean, he stressed, that the executive lacks the capacity to dialogue with different political forces, including Livre.
Regarding the topic of immigration, Luís Montenegro defended the executive’s vision, contrasting it with that of the deputies on the left benches of the chamber.
“We are promoting a regulation policy that simultaneously dignifies the lives of these people,” he considered.
The prime minister added that “there may be other topics” where dialogue with other political forces is possible.
