Livre accuses AD of being naive about the dangers of the far right

Livre spokesman Rui Tavares said this Saturday that the Democratic Alliance (AD) shows “great naivety” about the dangers of the far right and asked Luis Montenegro to explain what he wants to do regarding unemployment subsidies.

“What I can assess from the outside, based on what Luis Montenegro says, is a large dose of naivety in relation to the real danger from the extreme right,” said Rui Tavares on the sidelines of the election campaign in the Benfica market. in Lisbon.

The historian believes that “leaders of the traditional right in Portugal are making the same mistakes as the leaders of the center right in other European countries.”

Tavares went back to 2016 and Luis Montenegro’s statements about this year’s North American elections that “between Trump or [Hillary] Clinton would have abstained.”

“For me already in 2016 it was very clear what would happen to authoritarianism and national populism. But then this was the beginning of this phenomenon, and some lack of rough knowledge about what the far right is is justified,” he added.

The following year, André Ventura continued to be the sole deputy of Livre and head of the Lisbon list, and was also the PSD candidate for the city council of Loures, “from which the CDS withdrew, in the name of justice.”

“The SDP did not do this. Luis Montenegro was the leader and head of the parliamentary bench. [o apoio] even when they heard that there was a candidate who clearly violated the principles and charter of the SDP. Once again, naivety towards the far right,” he said.

“And he still maintains that if he has to govern with a relative majority, he will treat all parties equally. This is impossible,” he defended himself.

Rui Tavares also referred to the constitutional revision process that parliament eventually stopped midway after the resignation of Prime Minister Antonio Costa, pointing to the change proposed by Chega.

“An exception was made to Article 26 Chegi on the prohibition of obtaining information about people and families in an offensive manner or against human dignity. It said: “However, these rights may be limited for reasons of public safety, which is the lowest Does the PSD believe that it will treat equally everyone who supports the basic provisions that the PSD Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, as a voter, laid down in the Constitution? “, – he asked.

The sole lawmaker also called on AD leader Luis Montenegro to clarify statements he made on Thursday that he does not accept “a country in which many people who work have less money than many people who do not work.”

Like Social Democratic Party secretary general Pedro Nuno Santos, who on Friday called on the PSD leader to clarify whether he wants to cut this subsidy, Rui Tavares argues that the Social Democratic leader “must clarify what this means.”

“This is logic and grammar: he tells us that unemployment benefits cannot be higher than the national minimum wage. This means a violation of people’s rights and a betrayal of the social contract,” he accused.

“Again, was this statement simply to imitate the speech of the far right? These things have consequences for people’s lives,” he warned.

The candidate left the Democratic right with advice from “the other side of the fence,” but, he said, “with a good dose of friendship”: “They will rush to their own destruction.”

Tavares warned that “there is no historical or recent example of a center-right movement that has extended its hand to the far right and not ended up with its hand eaten.”

The MP addressed the undecided vote and said that voting for the left was good, but voting for Livre was “better.”

The leader said there was “no more need to explain” to people what Livre, which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, is, and assured that the party would “pick up the pace” in the final stretch of the election campaign, expressing confidence in the election results. 10th.