“The idea from José Luís Carneiro suggests a certain desperation to appear relevant, especially on a topic that was almost settled,” he stated, also accusing the PS of becoming “pathetic.”
“For Chega, it’s actually beneficial that the PS becomes less important, but from the outside, I can’t help but notice the ridiculousness the PS is becoming in Portugal and their concerns so detached from people’s lives,” he said.
André Ventura made these remarks to journalists before meeting with the administration of the Amadora-Sintra Hospital and after being questioned about the challenge posed by the PS secretary-general to the prime minister to negotiate a proposal for a “Strategic Agreement for a National Development and Defense Capacity Plan.”
In a letter to Luís Montenegro, José Luís Carneiro proposed the formation of a joint PSD/PS parliamentary working group, in collaboration with the Government and representatives “from sectors of relevance” in the Defense area, to present this agreement within three months.
“We are tired of working groups. What we need is work. Let’s remove ‘group of’ and just work. People don’t pay politicians to be in working groups, they pay them to work, and that’s why it’s regrettable that the leader of the Socialist Party is only concerned with PS positions in public administration and becoming relevant,” he criticized.
André Ventura expressed confusion over José Luís Carneiro’s objectives, reminding that the prime minister had already met with the PS and Chega prior to the NATO summit, where Luís Montenegro declared that Portugal would have to increase its defense budget by approximately one billion euros by the end of the year to reach 2% of GDP.
The president of Chega reiterated that his party would “participate in this effort for consensus around the structural increase in defense investment, as long as it does not jeopardize social investment, particularly in pensions and development investment.”
Another condition from Chega is that the Government ensures this investment “simultaneously creates Portuguese industries that will provide economic return in the medium term, meaning it is not a direct lost investment, but one with a return.”
“I thought this consensus was already established, so I don’t quite see why José Luís Carneiro wants to hold a meeting about it,” he suggested.
