André Ventura, Chega’s parliamentary leader, said the party would not approve the 2025 state budget unless the government was open to the party’s proposals, including holding a referendum on immigration and strengthening border controls.
“This referendum is one of the important conditions for the approval of the budget. Whether it is decisive or not, we will see later. It is obvious that border control, migration control are not limited to the referendum and there are issues that the Government can resolve and must begin to act in the area of border control,” he said, speaking to journalists during a visit to the Vale do Sousa agricultural fair in Penafiel, Porto district.
The Chegi leader added: “Time is running out to reach a point of understanding. They will come in October and say we are not allowed to work.”
The MP believes that “there has been no activity on the part of the government” and if this continues, “this will indicate either that there is already an agreement with the PS” or that there is no effort to “approve the budget.”
After admitting that “the country does not deserve or need a new political crisis,” André Ventura gave journalists an explanation of the government’s position: “Either the PS already has an agreement and we don’t know, or the government does not intend to have the state budget approved because it wants to provoke elections and a political crisis.”
For the leader of Chega, both situations are bad.
“If there is an agreement with the PS, it means that the government will give in to the fiscal and budgetary logic of the Socialist Party, which has brought us to the point where we are. If Luis Montenegro makes an agreement with Pedro Nuno Santos, we already know what it will lead to: more subsidies, a high IRC, high taxes on diesel and carbon emissions to pay for the subsidies,” he noted.
André Ventura confirmed that his party had already clarified the conditions for approving the budget, recalling that Chega’s abstention was not enough, a positive vote was necessary.
“Therefore, negotiations are necessary and the government must accept these negotiations. From our side, the data is on the table,” he said.
Even during the referendum, Ventura announced that the party had decided to create a delegation headed by parliamentary leader Pedro Pinto to begin formal negotiations with the PSD and reach a possible understanding.
However, Ventura noted that Chega will not abandon the referendum, regardless of whether the PSD accepts it or not.
“Chega will bring the referendum proposal to the plenary session for discussion as soon as it becomes possible to schedule it for the first days of September,” he said.
The MP also spoke about the earthquake that was felt in Portugal this Monday. “There were communication failures on the civil protection and government website,” said André Ventura. The MP added that “affected areas should receive information, even if it is in the middle of the night.”