“Luís Montenegro sold his soul, the PSD sold its soul. To remain in power, to go into the local elections claiming a firm hand on immigration, and because he believes this is a populist policy that gains votes and allows competition with the far-right, he abandoned all values and sold his soul to Chega,” stated Mariana Mortágua to Lusa, in Viseu.
Chega leader, André Ventura, announced a “preliminary agreement” with AD regarding some guiding principles to amend the nationality law, acknowledging a “commitment to block several hearings” requested by the left.
“I have news: this is not how one combats the far-right. In no country where traditional right-wing parties conceded to a far-right agenda did they manage to prevent the far-right from growing,” warned the BE coordinator.
In her opinion, “what they are doing is legitimizing the far-right field, what Luís Montenegro is doing is saying André Ventura is right.”
“And he is not. No matter how populist the ideas are, he is not right. And by endorsing André Ventura, he is allowing far-right ideas to progress for the sake of maintaining power,” she lamented.
The sole BE deputy assured willingness “to discuss immigration and the integration of immigrants in Portugal,” but not to “engage in a populist drift that will solve no problem.”
“It will exacerbate problems in Portuguese society, integration, the economy, and public services,” she warned, recalling that many immigrants work in hospitals and municipalities.
At a press conference at the party headquarters in Lisbon, André Ventura emphasized “the understanding” and “negotiation” between Chega and AD on changes to the foreigners’ law and the creation of the new National Unit for Foreigners and Borders, under the PSP, approved at the specialty stage on Friday in parliament.
Mentioning that, in the case of the nationality law, it was left for the “start of the next legislative session because there are many mandatory hearings to conduct,” the Chega leader provided a guarantee.
“A principle of agreement was also established between the two parliamentary leaders [Chega and AD] on some guiding principles for amending nationality legislation, which we hope to implement already at the start of September,” he stated.
Ventura noted that both his party and those supporting the Government “rejected a series of hearings requested by the left on this matter.”
