The new PSD parliamentary leader, Hugo Soares, promised on Tuesday “a dialogue with all party forces” represented in the Assembly of the Republic, denying that this meant a retreat in abandoning the agreements with Chega.
Hugo Soares was elected leader of the PSD bench on Tuesday with more than 98% of the vote and, speaking to reporters, said the vote meant “great cohesion and great unity” of the bench.
Asked several times about the call for understanding left the day before by former PSD leader Pedro Passos Coelho – understood as a request for rapprochement between the Chega PSD – Hugo Soares insisted that his panel would speak “to everyone.”
“According to statements, Dr. Pedro Passos Coelho called for dialogue with all parties. I believe that I have spoken very clearly in Portuguese: my responsibility and the responsibility of the leadership of the parliamentary group is to have a humble and constructive dialogue with all parliamentary benches to solve the problem in people’s lives,” he said.
Asked why the “no is no” promise to Chege made by PSD leader and Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, Hugo Soares considered the problem “more than clarified.”
“When the prime ministerial candidate said no, he did it: he said he was not going to form an election coalition with the party. There isn’t even a management agreement. Another thing is dialogue with all represented party forces. in parliament it will be so for the only purpose that is important for the SDP parliamentary group: solving people’s lives,” he emphasized.
According to Hugo Soares, “Portuguese abroad do not want to know whether tax cuts will be approved with the abstention of PS, Chega, Livre or PCP, they want to reduce taxes.”