“It seems that all the candidates agree: whenever there is a law or about foreigners or about nationality, they agree to delay it as much as possible. António José Seguro, if he had political courage, would have said ‘I don’t agree with this law on this, this, and this, and we would debate this.’ But, since they lost in parliament, they now want to win in the office. And that’s what is happening,” said André Ventura.
The candidate supported by Chega was speaking to journalists in Gaia, in the Porto district, having been questioned about one of his opponents’ position on the Nationality Law.
António José Seguro stated on Friday that laws “with great sensitivity,” such as the Nationality Law, should have “the widest possible support” and not be marked by “conjectural ideologies.”
“Laws of this importance cannot have ideological marks of the moment. On the contrary, they should have broad support to be representative of the national sentiment,” said Seguro, adding that, as President, he would evaluate “specifically the decree” while maintaining the principle that norms expressing “constitutional values” should be consensual.
In response to these words, André Ventura included Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo and Marques Mendes, the presidential candidate supported by the PSD, to say that if the law is delayed, these opponents are saying that “the country is fine as it is, when it is not.”
“Therefore, by delaying this, António José Seguro, Gouveia e Melo, potentially Marques Mendes, what they are doing is giving reason to this state of affairs that should have been changed a long time ago. It’s not the perfect law, no, but it was the possible consensus. And now, delaying this even more is making the country even worse than it is,” he stated.
And he added: “By making this delay, what they are saying is that they want the old law to continue in force.”
On this subject, Ventura said it is up to the President of the Republic “to apply the pressure and incentive for these reforms to come into force quickly” and again criticized Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa both for sending the law to the Constitutional Court and for his posture in Luanda during the celebrations of Angola’s 50 years of independence.
“After what I saw that happened in Angola, frankly, after what I saw happen in Luanda, the humiliation we were subjected to by the President of the Republic, without any ability to react (…) I no longer expect anything from Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. After what I saw in Luanda, our kneeling and accepting the humiliation naturally, I no longer expect much defense of our country from the President of the Republic,” he said.
On Wednesday, the leader of Chega had already criticized the statements of the Angolan President about Portuguese colonialism and the reaction of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, which he wants to see condemned by parliament.
