“I wanted to tell the prime minister not to think that what happened today is any green light or white card for the future. Chega has signaled that it wants to lower taxes and control immigration. As we have given the signal, if the Government now backtracks or acts like the PS, which takes one step forward and three steps back, we will be here to tell them they made a mistake, take the card out of their hand and say that it’s time for Luís to leave and let others govern and let Chega govern,” stated André Ventura in Loures, Lisbon district.
The leader of Chega issued this warning during his speech at the presentation of deputy Bruno Nunes’s candidacy for the presidency of the Loures City Council.
André Ventura stated that his party “wants to give people a future without considering political-partisan calculations.”
“The time for backstage games is over, the time for palatial party and political maneuvers has to end,” he argued.
The president of Chega mentioned that the party supported the Government’s proposal to reduce IRS because it is a measure they believe in.
“We did not give a hand to the Government, nor did we make any transform ‘no is no’ into ‘yes is yes’. Today we showed PSD the difference between being leaders of the opposition or leaders of destruction, we showed PSD when the country and people are put above any political calculation,” he emphasized.
André Ventura also noted that during the election campaign of the last legislative elections, he advocated for lower taxes or immigration restrictions, so now Chega could not vote against it.
“We couldn’t. For us, there is no political calculation, there is no political maneuver. For us today, at the end of the day, people feel that parliament did something for the country, and that’s what our salary is paid for,” he defended.
The Government’s proposal to reduce IRS rates by 500 million euros this year was approved in general in parliament with votes in favor from PSD, CDS-PP, Chega, IL, PAN, and JPP, and an abstention from PS.
André Ventura’s party also had a bill to further reduce the IRS from the 2nd to the 5th bracket but withdrew it from voting after PSD promised to include the reduction in the next budget.
Meanwhile, the Government’s initiatives to amend the nationality and immigration laws proceeded to the detailed phase without being voted on in general, as well as Chega’s bills on the same matters.
