Chega president André Ventura today dismissed a report saying the party was a common vector for “more radical movements on the Portuguese far right” as “nonsense”.
“In seriousness what is serious, in nonsense what is nonsense. We are talking about NGOs [organização não governamental] in which there are two people,” Andre Ventura told reporters in Pedrogane Grande.
A report produced by the US-based Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) identifies 13 “hate and extremist groups” in Portugal, including Chega and Ergé-te, as well as neo-Nazi and white supremacist movements such as ” Portugal Hammerskins” or “Proud Boys Portugal”.
In this universe, Chega is the one who “increasingly” dominates the Portuguese far right, the report points out, highlighting that the party has “worked to poison the national discourse with racist, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-immigration and anti-Gypsy rhetoric. “.
Chega’s leader ironically said that “tomorrow Chega may also create some kind of association in Spain, Finland, Sweden and say that the Left Bloc is a danger to democracy.”
“And then we publish it and say: “Ah, you see, there is a big danger here,” he thought.
Recalling that Chega is a political party registered with the Constitutional Court, in addition to being the third largest, Andre Ventura considered that “this is disrespect for the voters.”
For André Ventura, the aim of this report is “to cover the same parties as always (…), parties that are growing in number across Europe”.
“The goal is always clear, when the parties start to grow, we will try to destroy them. How? With the specter of the extreme right, with the specter of racism,” he continued.