Pedro Nuno Santos believes that the PSD/IL government would already be “quite radical” without Chega.

Socialist leadership candidate Pedro Nuno Santos said this Monday that TAP “is not a problem” and there should be no rush to privatization, and said that the PSD/IL government would already have a “quite radical” project without Chega.

In an interview with SICOn the day he presented his candidacy for the leadership of the PS, Pedro Nuno Santos declared that “the PSD plus IL project is already radical enough” to cause concern, “without the crutch of Chegi.”

“IL has a radically liberal project. I would say that a possible PSD government with IL would be a government more right-wing than the government of Passos Coelho. Passos Coelho, despite everything, did not depend on IL. This will have implications for governance, which is obvious,” he said.

Pedro Nuno Santos made the announcement after he said in a speech this afternoon introducing his candidacy for the post of PS leader that “the right does not keep its promises and does not do what it says.”

“Even now he promises us that he will not make agreements with right-wing populists, racists and xenophobes, although that is exactly what he intends to do,” he said.

When asked in this interview about the reasons for such a statement, Pedro Nuno Santos replied that this possible agreement would be “a problem for the majority of Portuguese,” especially those “in the political center.”

“And this risk is real, especially because in the Azores, where the PS won the elections, the PSD decided to form an alliance with several parties or enter into various agreements with different parties, one of which is Chega,” he noted.

When asked about a possible reconfiguration of the invention, Pedro Nuno Santos stressed that the IPS will go to the vote alone and will fight “for the best possible result”, and will only make this assessment later, “depending on the parliamentary agreement that follows from the elections”.

The former Minister of Infrastructure and Housing was also asked about the privatization of TAP and responded that the airline is not a “problem for the country today”.

According to Pedro Nuno Santos, TAP “brought in more than 200 million euros in profit” in the first nine months of this year, which is “unprecedented in the history” of the airline.

“Therefore, TAP is not an issue today and therefore there is no need to rush through the dossier. Today we have a company that is financially healthy and from an operational point of view it is also very healthy and successful. Therefore, “This is not a problem for the country,” he said.

Asked if he regretted moving in June 2022 to Montijo-Alcochete as the site of the new Lisbon airport without the consent of the Prime Minister, which led to his public refusal of permission, Pedro Nuno Santos replied that at that time time it was an idea. having to wait a longer period of time is unbearable to make a decision regarding this place.

“The country has been trying to decide the location of the airport for 50 years. The thought that we would have to study more, listen more, negotiate more was unbearable for me, and so it was time to want the government to decide,” he said.

Regarding the resignation of the Minister of Infrastructure, Pedro Nuno Santos admitted that if he had been in João Galamba’s place, he would have resigned earlier, saying that this is what he did when he too was “in a difficult situation”, hinting at resignation. to the dispute over the compensation of former Secretary of State Alexandra Reis.

After the resignation of António Costa, in addition to Pedro Nuno Santos, who is associated with the left wing of the PS, he will also run for the post of leader of the party of José Luis Carneiro, which is considered to belong to the moderate wing.

Direct elections for António Costa’s successor in the PS are scheduled for December 15 and 16 – at the same time as the election of delegates – and the congress is scheduled for January 6 and 7.