The PAN spokeswoman said today that the party will be vigilant in the next legislature regarding “possible setbacks or threats to acquired rights” and asked the prime minister-designate not to use them “as a bargaining chip for governance”.
Speaking to the Lusa news agency, Inês de Sousa Real congratulated the PSD leader on winning the legislative elections on the 10th and wished him “a good term in office in the interests of the country”.
“We have different visions of AD’s country and society and the PAN will not cease to be vigilant in relation to what may be possible setbacks or threats to acquired rights that have been won over the course of this year,” he said.
The single PAN MP, who was re-elected, asked Luís Montenegro to “take into consideration that there has been progress made over the last few terms, especially in terms of animal and environmental protection, but also in human rights, particularly women’s rights, so that he doesn’t jeopardize this alliance that is being formed”.
Inês de Sousa Real also called on the prime minister-designate “not to use these same acquired rights as a bargaining chip for governance and to get into power, particularly with Chega or his Democratic Alliance partners”.
“We are asking Luís Montenegro to respect the achievements made over the years and to preserve the legacy that the Assembly of the Republic leaves behind,” he said.
The PAN spokeswoman indicated that her party “will be a vocal opposition political force and will also be very vigilant, acting as it has always acted so far, as a guardian of these values that it represents in the Assembly of the Republic” and guaranteed that it will do everything “to ensure that there are no setbacks”.
“We have even been available to talk to the other political forces in the democratic spectrum, because it will be up to all of us who are committed to democracy and the values of April 25 to work together so as not to let what we have achieved so far fall,” he said.
As for the PCP’s motion to reject the AD government program, Sousa Real said that this issue would be analyzed by the PAN’s National Political Commission.
The leader of People-Animals-Nature stressed that the text of the motion and the new government’s program needed to be known, but admitted that she could make it possible.
“We anticipate that, corresponding to its electoral program and to what this coalition of the Democratic Alliance has been, it is possible that the PAN may accompany the motion, if Luís Montenegro insists on this outdated vision and that, in some way, calls into question the work that has been done over these years in the Assembly of the Republic,” he said.
The Democratic Alliance (AD) won the March 10 elections and the PSD leader was appointed Prime Minister by the President of the Republic. Luís Montenegro will present his government on March 28 and is scheduled to take office on April 2.
