Government criticised for similarities with PS, calls for more dialogue with right

The leader of the Chegi parliamentary group, Pedro Pinto, considered that there were no significant differences between the PSD and the PS at the head of the government, and called on the executive branch to promote closer dialogue with André Ventura’s party.

Speaking to the Lusa agency during the debate on the state of the nation that is taking place this Wednesday in the Assembly of the Republic, the leader of the Chegi parliament stressed that “not everything is in order in the country” and that all the statements made by the government are “a lot of propaganda”, but “very fragile” and difficult to “move from dead center”.

Pedro Pinto criticised the executive for “missing the opportunity to amend the budget and not managing the PS budget”, a fact he said was “curious” given that the Social Democrats voted against the current budget text.

Deputy Chega has repeatedly insisted on the idea of ​​closeness between the executive led by Luis Montenegro and the previous executive led by António Costa, stating that although it would be difficult to do “worse than what the PS did, this government is doing more or less the same thing.”

“This government must separate itself from the PS and it cannot do so. Now it has seen itself in the European Council when it supported António Costa. It always continues to support the PS measures and therefore it is impossible to cut the umbilical cord with the left and, in particular, with the PS,” he added.

Pedro Pinto asked the Social Democrats to open up more opportunities for dialogue with Chega and for the executive to understand that “it does not have to talk to everyone” and only two parties – Chega and the PS – can make its proposals viable, and that it must show “that it really wants to have a right-wing government to improve people’s lives.”

The leader of the parliamentary group, Chega, expected the debate this Wednesday to be “heated” and that it would show that “Chega continues to be the only party that stands against Luis Montenegro and tells the truth face to face” and will intervene to defend “what really affects people’s pockets.”

Pedro Pinto has guaranteed that his party will keep immigration among its priorities in the coming months, which they say is “a problem the government cannot fight” despite the package of measures it has presented on immigration.

“The PSD continues to pursue the open door policy that the Socialist Party pursued. It cannot be, we must say ‘no’ so that this open door policy does not serve Portugal,” he said.

Chega also asked the government to be more responsive to the demands of security forces, firefighters, judicial officials and doctors, promising to submit several proposals in this regard.

A state of the nation debate is scheduled for Wednesday, the first since the SDP/CDU-PP minority leader took office, with Prime Minister Luis Montenegro and the rest of the government taking part.