Prior to the final overall vote on the Government’s State Budget proposal for 2026 at the Assembly of the Republic, André Ventura made a central accusation in his speech.
The Chega leader attempted to group the PSD and CDS government together with the PS—the party expected to enable the budget through abstention.
“This budget retains all the vices of the PS. It takes from those who work and produce to give to those who do nothing. In Portugal, 34.7% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be tax burden, done by the same government that claimed it wanted to ease the burden on companies,” he pointed out.
Ventura also sought to highlight contradictions in the speech of PS Secretary-General José Luís Carneiro, citing criticisms made by the socialist about a budget that would impoverish the country and is without ambition, yet he prepares to abstain on it.
“When the government says it wanted to cut the PS’s many vices, look at what happens with the working groups. In just 20 months, Luís Montenegro’s government created 89 working groups, three times the number of those by the previous Prime Minister António Costa, who was already a master of working groups,” he cited as an example.
In this context, he posed the question: Does the country need the creation of wealth and lesser tax burden, “or more working groups, more jobs, and more positions within the state”?
In his speech, André Ventura also addressed criticisms aimed at Chega for having participated in “negative coalitions” alongside left-wing parties, modifying the government’s budget proposal.
“The government says it is a victim of negative coalitions in this parliament, a victim of a more or less secret arrangement between parties to cover up or distort the State Budget. But Chega does not move, nor will it ever move, by party coalitions. Our coalition is with the Portuguese,” he countered.
According to André Ventura, in some votes, Chega had to “assume decisive and important values to distort this budget,” such as “freezing the increase in tuition fees.”
“It makes no sense for politicians to have their salaries increased while young people pay more in tuition fees next year. We also had our part and our role in ensuring that more toll sections come to an end in Portugal,” he indicated.
Tolls, in his view, are “a cancer that absorbs resources and drains those who pass through them to distribute among concessionaires who for 20 years have placed PS and PSD men in those positions.”
“We wanted to ensure that people had what we promised them and what the PSD also promised them but did not keep its word: ‘That they would stop paying tolls,'” he said.
The Chega leader also referenced the approval—in the budget’s specialty stage, against the will of the PSD and CDS—of the increase in patrol allowances designated for PSP and GNR.
“We believe that these men and women deserve to be rewarded and recognized for their work. This is distorting the budget, we apologize, but the security forces deserve this effort, this dedication, and this honor,” he asserted.
At this point, he recalled the officers who die “in the line of duty” and claimed that “discussing a few cents of their patrol allowance would only be an incomprehensible pettiness.”
“Therefore, Chega takes responsibility for these distortions, we fought for them, and we would do it again today,” he emphasized, referring to the former combatants and the celebrations of historical dates such as April 25, 1974, or November 25, 1975.
“Yes, we also distorted the budget there because we wanted to ensure that the former combatants were remembered, and not just with carnations or white roses at ceremonies while claiming to remember them, but when it comes time to give them small recognition, they flee from their word of honor,” he added.
