Montenegro says if PS plays games, have the courage to overthrow the government

PSD Chairman and Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said today that if the PS is playing games over the budget negotiations, then have the courage to topple the government.

Speaking to the National Council of the PSD, open to the media, at a hotel in Lisbon, Luis Montenegro confirmed that the leader of the minority he leads should cease to operate only if he is overthrown by a vote of no confidence.

“They want to make rough estimates, they want some – some, of course – of their proposals to be included in the budget proposals, yes, they have a partnership. If by chance all this is nothing more than a game, then have the courage to topple the government, because we will be here to tell the Portuguese what it is all about,” he said, referring to the PS.

Luis Montenegro added that “this is not a threat or a wish,” that he is “well aware of the damage that a new political crisis could cause the country,” but refuses to question the “essence of the policy” of his program.

The SDP President and Prime Minister pointed to the IRS cuts as one of the government’s proposals that “may not receive parliamentary approval, but are not subject to discussion in terms of their implementation.”

“We are ready to negotiate on many things, but we cannot distort what is the basis of our economic policy,” he explained.

According to Luis Montenegro, “the same thing applies to the IRS for young people.”

In general terms, he said the PSD/CDS-PP government has “full readiness for negotiations and dialogue on fiscal policy” but does not abandon the “main pillars of governance.”

“You can ask the government to bring positions closer together, you can ask the government to complement policies, but you cannot ask the government to destroy its foundations,” he stressed.

The prime minister asked, contrary to his words, “not to confuse commitment with arrogance” and suggested that everyone use the summer holidays to “deepen their thinking and position.”

At the end of his speech, which lasted about 35 minutes, Luis Montenegro repeated that he would rather step down than break the promises he had made: “I would rather stop exercising these functions than govern without fulfilling what is at the core of the commitment I have made to the Portuguese people.”

However, he previously reiterated that the government, since its program was not rejected by parliament, “should cease its functions only when the political forces that have received the necessary majority present and approve a vote of no confidence.”

“These things are not said by chance, these things are not something that suddenly comes to light on the same day. These things have a very solid basis: a basis for legitimizing the popular vote, a basis for legitimizing the representative vote. And I want to confirm this here in three months,” he said.

The Prime Minister recalled that he had agreed to form a government only if he won the elections and that, since taking office, he had expressed his understanding that the failure to reject the government’s programme in parliament implied conditions for the government to implement its programme.

Regarding this last position, he said that after taking office he had attracted the attention of “the highest magistrate of the country, the President of the Republic, who shows a sense of institutional loyalty and political frontality.”

Assessing the first three months of his rule, he claimed that it was a “government that gets things done” that had “already done in 30, 60 and 90 days what others had not done in 3,050 days” and stated that “most of the measures [anunciadas] All of them are already in the implementation stage.”

According to Luis Montenegro, “the only novelty, the only oddity” of this period was the joint vote of the PS and CEGA on measures in the Assembly of the Republic.