At the beginning of September, Chega is organizing the third edition of the Summer Political Academy, promoted by the party’s youth structure, to discuss the future of Europe, one year away from the European elections.
In a statement released today, the coordinator of the structure that represents young people, Rita Matias, challenges participants to “reflect on the future of the ‘old continent’ and the European institutions”.
The theme of this edition, which will take place in Cascais, will be “Quo Vadis Europa?” (“Where is Europe going?”).
“We will reflect for three days on what kind of future we want for Europe and how the transformation we advocate can and should take place,” she said.
Rita Matias highlights the “pertinence” of the issue, stressing that the European Union is “moving fast towards the elections” in June next year.
“But there’s a deeper reason than that: much of the legislation applied in our country, even if we don’t realize it, emanates from Brussels and not from S. Bento,” he stresses.
The Chega MEP said that the Summer Political Academy “will function as a simulation of the European Parliament”, with group work, workshops and the drafting of proposals.
According to the program, the Youth Enough Summer Political Academy kicks off on the first day with a visit to the Assembly of the Republic.
The opening session, which will take place in parliament’s Senate Room, will feature speeches by Rita Matias and other party leaders, such as the rectors of the III Summer Political Academy, Diogo Pacheco de Amorim and Ricardo Regalla.
The president of Chega, André Ventura, also addressed the participants at the opening of this initiative.
Also in the afternoon, there will be a lecture on “The future of the European right”, by university professor Teresa Nogueira Pinto, and in the evening the presentation of the book “Tsunami – Trump, Trumpism and Europe”, by the former president of the Luso-American Development Foundation, Vasco Rato.
The second day of Chega’s III Summer Political Academy will feature lectures by constitutionalist Jorge Bacelar Gouveia (The Portuguese Constitution, the European Union and the future), lawyer and university professor António Pinto Pereira (European Union: meaning, contradictions and future), Chega vice-president and university professor José Bento da Silva (The apparent triumph of magical thinking in politics), as well as workshops.
On the last day of the initiative, there will be a simulation of a plenary session of the European Parliament, with speeches by Pedro Pessanha, member of parliament and president of Chega’s Lisbon district, and Frederico Tropa, leader of Chega Youth, followed by a period of debate.
Rui Cardoso, Youth leader and national training director, António Tangier Corrêa, vice-president of Chega, and Pedro Pinto, parliamentary leader of Chega, will close.
