Ventura highlights Maria Luis Albuquerque’s resume, but wishes he had a say

Cega President André Ventura praised the CV of María Luis Albuquerque, proposed by the government for the post of European Commissioner on Wednesday, but said he would prefer the name to be agreed upon by right-wing parties.

“I think that Dr. María Luis Albuquerque has a really solid CV on this issue, I must say. I am very sorry that the government did not want to agree on the name of María Luis Albuquerque, especially on the right, and this shows a certain attitude that persists, arrogance, one-sidedness, when good practice is that the name of the European Commissioner, since he represents us all, is the name that is most agreed upon between the parties, especially the parties that are in the majority,” he defended.

At a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Lisbon, leader Chegi said the former finance minister “certainly has no experience, neither from an international point of view, nor from the point of view of European diplomacy or European politics, but she could come to gain that experience,” and said the Portuguese “will not be poorly represented” in Brussels.

“If this name is more or less connected with the ‘troika’ and abbreviations, as I heard this Wednesday from some politicians, then a lot of time has passed for this, people can do other things in life and can prove themselves in other positions,” he believes.

André Ventura also expressed regret that “so close to negotiations and discussions on the state budget” the government “insists on this logic of unilateralism, refusal to negotiate, presenting names as closed cases that no one knew about.”

“We are very sorry that there was not this diplomatic concern to reach a consensus on the name in a context where the government does not have a majority for it. And so I think that even in terms of the political legitimacy of our new commissioner, there is a little bit of a consensus between the parties on this issue, and Chegas will certainly be able to reach a consensus on the name,” he said.

The Portuguese government has nominated former Finance Minister Maria Luis Albuquerque as its candidate for the post of European Commissioner, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro announced Wednesday in a statement at his official residence in Sao Bento, without the right to questions.

In a short statement, the prime minister said he had chosen María Luis Albuquerque with the support of the entire government in a process that took place with “total modesty” and stressed the authority of the former minister of state and finance under Pedro Passos Coelho.

“Based on his profile and my direct and personal knowledge of his abilities, I know he will bring honour to Portugal,” he said.

Maria Luis Albuquerque, 56, was minister of state and finance during Portugal’s troika bailout, replacing Vitor Gaspar in July 2013 and remaining until the end of the executive led by Pedro Passos Coelho.

In the PSD, he was vice-president during the leadership of Passos Coelho and headed the list of PSD parliamentary candidates in Setúbal in 2011 and 2015.

He is currently a member of the National Council of the PSD (second name on Luis Montenegro’s leadership list, just after Carlos Moedas) and a member of the supervisory board of the European branch of the North American company Morgan Stanley.