“He said, and I quote, ‘we must break through inertia and obstacles’, the greatest inertia and obstacle of the last 50 years has been the collusion between the PS and the PSD to destroy our democracy”, stated André Ventura, addressing the Prime Minister during the first round of clarification requests in the Government Program debate at the Assembly of the Republic.
The leader of Chega congratulated Luís Montenegro on his “electoral victory” in the latest elections and emphasized the new parliamentary framework, where his party became the second-largest bloc.
André Ventura noted that “Chega increased by 268,045 votes, AD increased by 141,000 votes, PS lost 370,000 votes”, and asserted that “if there is a larger majority, there is also a new parliamentary framework that demands” from “everyone serious reforms for Portugal”.
“And if we can now rid ourselves of the Socialist Party in these reforms, then the time is not to look back. The time is to serve and realize the vote of the Portuguese,” he indicated.
The Chega leader also addressed the issue of health, mentioning that over the past weekend “14 emergency services were closed again” and criticized the reappointment of the Health Minister, ironically stating that “it worked well during the last year”.
André Ventura further described the average waiting time for consultations or access to surgeries as “a disgrace”.
“The Prime Minister did not mention a word about the health of the Portuguese, so I will. Either the Government changes in health, or the Government does something for the health of those here and not for those coming here, or we will not tolerate this Government of Portugal much longer,” he warned.
In response, the Prime Minister stated that over the last 50 years the country has been “accumulating some frustrations, some objectives that were left by the wayside, some expectations created and that ended up being thwarted”.
“But I hope that the honorable member does not confuse those frustrations, those thwarted expectations with all the great achievements that Portugal has made in these 50 years in the face of inertia, stagnation, and the backwardness of the previous 50 years,” he emphasized.
Luís Montenegro also expressed his hope that André Ventura “never confuses the transformative and reformist capacity of the last 50 years with what happened in the 50 years that preceded them”.
“Because I do not see the honorable member wanting to return to that time. I sincerely hope, and I think the Portuguese hope too,” he emphasized.
Regarding health, the executive leader called for responsibility and “responsible contribution to solving the problems”.
“The honorable member can maximize the alarm created by the closure of emergency services. We also regret not being able yet to end this circumstance, but it would be courteous to mention that in 2025 these closures are about half of those that occurred in 2024 and, therefore, the path we are on is one of recovery,” he argued.
Luís Montenegro argued that this is also the case regarding waiting times for consultations and surgeries, as well as the investment that the Government is “now making, whether within the scope of the PRR, in direct investments in the state budget, or also the investment in human resources,” maintaining that more professionals are needed to have more capacity to respond.”
“More needs to be done, there needs to be this demand, but there also needs to be a sense of responsibility to say what is being done well. And, therefore, the continuity of health policy is important to complete the implementation of the transformation and emergency program, which has about 80% of its goals met, and to continue transforming the National Health Service,” he stated.
Regarding the political landscape, Luís Montenegro returned the congratulations to Chega for becoming the second political force in parliament and emphasized that “the parliamentary support for the Government increased and the gap between the first and second political forces also increased”.
