MP André Ventura this Friday accused the socialist government of treating immigrants better than Portuguese expats, and the PS reminded the Chega leader that he had already called members of the community “pots”.
During the debate in the plenary session of the Assembly of the Republic on an amendment to the law governing the Council of the Portuguese Communities (CCP), it fell to André Ventura to present the Chega bill on this issue, and this deputy said that Portugal had failed with those who left in search of a better life .
“For the immigrants who come here, we give everything, we have everything, and we give everything. We support, we give subsidies, we want them to vote, legalize, in any case enter and enjoy our public goods. For our people, who had to emigrate in order to live better, we don’t give anything, we don’t support and we close the door to everything that is part of the national policy,” he said.
Leader Chegi defended the end of this “political schizophrenia”, suggesting that if Portugal wanted to be a country “so humanistic”, it would become one for the Portuguese who “one day had to leave”.
In response, socialist MP Pedro Delgado Alves called it “interesting” that during the debate in the Council of Portuguese Communities (CPC), the leader of Chegi forgets his statements in 2020 when analyzing the departure of the president of the CPC Regional Council of Europe, Luiz Semedo, “that represent the representative councils of the Portuguese communities.”
“He said at the time that he was retiring, and he resigned very well because he helps save Portuguese money on those pots that are useless. This is the respect that Chega has for the CCP, for emigrants, their representatives, and for those who seek to establish their presence abroad,” he said.
He added: “Hearing what we have heard here about how we should greet our immigrants here in the Portuguese Republic is what our emigrants should have heard from the National Front. [partido francês de extrema-direita] say when, in the 70s and 80s [do século XX]they were anathematized and it was they who were the object of the will not to participate in elections and not to develop their role.”
“Fortunately, to the great pride of the Portuguese Republic and the great pride of the French Republic, we have a network of descendants of the Portuguese who are mayors, deputies of the National Assembly and the Assembly of the Republic and, thanks to the construction of these modes of representation, fortunately, they have been politically emancipated,” — he continued.
Ventura responded by pointing out that Luisa Semedo had resigned “because she didn’t want to meet” Chega’s leader and “choosed to leave”.
“He did really well and he won’t come back,” he said.
MP do Chega also said that the Portuguese emigration of “working men and women” who left Portugal “in search of a better life” was not comparable to the wave of immigrants that arrived in Europe, and that the comparison was “offensive”. to all families and to all those who were forced to emigrate.”
Pedro Delgado Alves objected: “If someone is not deceived by the deputy, it is the Portuguese who emigrated to France, who look up to them. [os imigrantes em Portugal] as equals because they see their history in themselves.”
Before this Friday’s debate, five bills (PS, PSD, PCP, PAN and Chega) for the reorganization of the CCP, which have been demanded for several years by this government advisory body for Portuguese communities, were presented.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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