Luis Montenegro says the situation in the Azores is a “cotton test” for Chegi’s positioning at the national level.

Luis Montenegro rejected the hypothesis of Chegi joining the government of the Azores Autonomous Region with the PSD during a debate with PCP Secretary General Paulo Raimundo this Saturday at RTP. From the point of view of the PSD president, “Chege should not dream of negotiations” with the right-wing coalition, which won Sunday’s elections with a relative majority.

“PS and Chega have the same prospects in the Azores as in the country,” he believes. While the PS has “taken off its mask” due to its inability to “respect the election results”, symbolized by the announcement of a vote against the government program of the right-wing coalition, Chega in this situation has a “cotton test” for its positioning. at the national level.

During the debate, Luis Montenegro promised to guarantee all pensioners an annual increase, at least in line with inflation. Paulo Raimundo is pushing for a 7.5% increase in pensions, financed by funds currently allocated to “tax breaks for large economic groups.” This proposal was criticized by the PSD president.

“Tell me how much it costs to increase pensions over time. This has no possibility. The calculations are not correct,” the Social Democrat noted. Paulo Raimundo responded and refuted the strategy of the Democratic Alliance (AD). “We don’t want to increase pensions in 2028. This is now, because now we need it,” he emphasized.

The General Secretary of the PKP recalled the period of social democratic rule from 2011 to 2015. “The people of AD and Chegi are record holders in reducing pensions. The largest increase in taxes in memory was during the time of the troika. (…) We played a decisive role in returning what was stolen from our people,” he emphasized. In response, Luis Montenegro stated that “the reduction in pensions was included in the memorandum of understanding agreed by the PS.”

AD aims to “create wealth with realism and ambition” by funding social policies through economic growth underpinned by lower tax burdens. “Countries that had policies similar to those advocated by the PCP have changed and introduced regressive taxes to attract investment,” said Luis Montenegro. But Paulo Raimundo believes that AD “wants to reduce taxes for large economic groups”, while PCP proposes “to lower them for small and medium-sized companies”.

Regarding the political scenario for March 10, the AD candidate promised to become prime minister “if he wins the elections with an absolute or relative majority” and asked the communist if he identifies himself with the results of socialist rule, because “whoever is united with PS I had PKP for six years.”

Regarding the location of the new airport, Paulo Raimundo hopes that “no multinational corporation will decide.”