Government of Portugal denies “reparation plans” for the country’s former colonies

Through a statement issued this Saturday (27), the government of Portugal, led by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, from the center-right coalition Democratic Alliance (AD), expressed that it has no intention of creating a “process or program of specific actions” aimed at repairing the country’s former colonies.

This position contradicts the statements of the President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who has been a defender of these “forms of compensation”.

In the statement, the Montenegro government emphasized that it “will follow the line of previous governments” regarding cooperation with previously colonized states, but rejected any project related to reparation.

The statement also highlights the Executive’s commitment to “deepening mutual relations, respect for historical truth and increasingly intense and closer cooperation, established in the reconciliation of brotherly peoples”.

The statements by President Rebelo de Sousa, who suggested again this Saturday that Portugal should “lead the process of reparation” to former colonies at risk of “losing the capacity for dialogue” with them, were also criticized by the right-wing Chega party.

Led by André Ventura, Chega threatened to present a motion of censure against the Montenegro government if it decided to move forward with any compensation project. The party expressed on social media its pride in Portugal’s history and stated that what Rebelo said “is the greatest betrayal of the homeland and the Portuguese people in living memory. We will not forget.”

“Unlike the President of the Republic, we are very proud of Portugal’s history. We do not apologize for our ancestors. We are Portuguese: the people who opened new worlds to the world and we are very proud of that!”, said the party on social media.

During this week, the party had also classified Rebelo’s statements on the topic as a “disgrace”.

The discussion on reparation should permeate the Portuguese Parliament in the coming days, as left-wing parties indicate that they should present proposals on the topic.

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