Sebastian Bugalho believes common sense will prevail in the Portuguese Parliament

The head of the list of the European Democratic Alliance (AD) said this Monday that democratic parliaments must give priority to freedom and human rights, and expressed confidence that common sense will prevail in the Assembly of the Republic.

“I think parliaments should give priority to freedom and obviously democratic parliaments should give priority to human rights, the balance between these two rights is a balance that requires common sense and I am confident that common sense will prevail in the Portuguese parliament.” , Sebastian Bugallo told Lusa on the sidelines of a lunch with Douro producers, mayors and activists.

Responding to a question about the position of the President of the Assembly of the Republic, which ignored the statement of the leader of Chegi with xenophobic outlines, an issue that is still on the agenda three days later, the candidate from AD, a coalition uniting SDP, SDS-PP and PPM, stated that “ Issues related to freedoms and rights are never controversial, they are fundamental.”

On Friday, the parliament president said it was not his responsibility to censor the positions or opinions of MPs, transferring any possible criminal liability for parliamentary speech to the prosecutor’s office.

José Pedro Aguiar-Branco rejected accusations that he made a mistake by allowing Chega leader Andre Ventura to continue his intervention, saying that “Turks are not exactly known as the most hardworking people in the world.”

“Our candidacy has always been and will always be on the side of human rights and against violence as a language in politics,” emphasized Sebastian Bugallo.

And he gave an example: “We were so far the only ones who dissociated ourselves from anti-Semitic statements in these European elections, we were the only ones who, for example, uttered a word of solidarity when a candidate for the German European Parliament was elected.” attacked while hanging a poster, (…) and, for example, when the Slovak Prime Minister was shot, we showed our solidarity.”

“Whenever there is a choice between violence and peace, we are on the side of peace. We are on the side of peace, human rights and minorities, this is absolutely clear, this is our position,” he said.

During this visit to the Douro, Sebastian Bugalho listened to the problems of the region and the wine sector and told Lusa that at the moment “the Portuguese government is obviously focused on finding solutions to solve the problems, namely the excess stocks that are occurring here in the Douro.”

In this region, last year was marked by certain social unrest, since, citing difficulties with the sale of wine, large companies did not purchase or purchased grapes in smaller quantities from producers, who, in turn, complained about the supply of grapes “without a price” or at a low price . “very low prices” – a problem that is feared could worsen in the next harvest.

“Your business has to be sustainable, from an environmental point of view of the region, we are working on that, we are also working on increasing checks to make sure that wines that are not from the region that are coming in are under proper control. “, the candidate from AD also noted.

This is not an easy problem, he emphasized, “but this candidacy is not simplistic or easy, this is a candidacy that is not afraid of problems and will seek solutions together with the government and society.”

However, he stressed that he preferred to “look more at the opportunity than the problem” and said he would be a voice in Europe that would draw attention to the Douro as a World Heritage Site and as the oldest demarcated and regulated region in Europe. world. .

The candidate also said that the candidate is traveling around the country from north to south to listen to the concerns of the Portuguese. “Because only then will we be able to hear their voice in Europe,” he said.