“Hypocritical” elimination of tolls brings PS and Chega together again against AD

Just over a week after making possible, with abstention, proposals from left-wing parties alternative to the Government’s to reduce the IRS, Chega was decisive this Thursday in the approval of the PS bill that aims to eliminate toll fees on the Interior and Algarve highways (formerly SCUT). The 50 elected members of André Ventura’s party joined the socialists and the Bloco de Esquerda, PCP, Livre and PAN, despite repeating accusations of “hypocrisy”, “incoherence” and “populism” against the authors of the diploma throughout the debate, which is sent to the Parliamentary Committee on Economy, Public Works and Housing.

The PS bill, which provides for the elimination, from January 1, 2025, of toll fees on motorways originally created at no cost to the user, and on others “where there are no alternative routes that allow quality and security”, covers the A4 (Transmontana and Túnel do Marão), the A13 and A13-1 (Pinhal Interior), the A22 (Algarve), the A23 (Beira Interior), the A24 (Interior North), the A25 (Beira Litoral and Beira Alta) and the A28 (Minho, in the Esposende-Antas and Neiva-Darque sections), with a cost to the public coffers estimated at 157 million euros by the authors of the initiative, which had Pedro Nuno Santos as the first subscriber.

After the approval – which only had votes against from the PSD and CDS-PP and abstention from the Liberal Initiative -, the Government reacted through the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Pedro Duarte, who criticized the “profound budgetary irresponsibility” of the socialists – hours after his Finance counterpart, Miranda Sarmento, has reported more than one billion in extraordinary expenses since António Costa’s Executive came into office -, estimating the impact of the lack of toll collection at 180 million euros in the first year, rising to 1.5 billion euros until the end of contracts with dealers. “It is very important that the Portuguese understand clearly how far the PS wants to go”, said the official, launching a series of questions to the largest opposition party. Referring to the convergence with Chega, he asked whether “there is no criteria in parliamentary collusion” and what prevents the second and third parties with the most votes in the legislature – together they have 128 deputies, against 80 of the two parliamentary groups of the Democratic Alliance (AD ) – of assuming that they intend to govern the country.

This is despite Pedro Duarte guaranteeing that the Government of Luís Montenegro “is more committed than ever” to “improving the quality of life of the Portuguese”, which “is much more important than political moves”.

Previously, André Ventura reacted, pointing out the outcome of the vote as “proof of the AD’s enormous incapacity to legislate”, accusing PSD and CDS-PP of “postponing sine die the benefit for the common citizen” resulting from the progressive “definitive abolition of all tolls” on Portuguese highways. Saying that the Government of Luís Montenegro was “once again on the wrong side of History”, by excluding itself from a broad consensus in favor of “abandoned and disregarded areas”, the Chega leader also spared no criticism of the PS, which “ conveys enormous hypocrisy to the country” by proposing something that failed successively over the eight years of António Costa’s government.

For his part, Pedro Nuno Santos defended that the PS did not go beyond what it included in the program with which it went to vote on March 10, boasting that, “in opposition, it was able to do more than the PSD in the Government”. And, when asked whether he was comfortable with the fact that the bill was approved due to Chega’s votes, he said that “there is no negative coalition”, as there was no understanding.

In a plenary session in which a bill from the Left Bloc was failed (for the end of tolls on the A22, A23, A24, A25, A28, A29, A41 and A42, and reversion to public management), a bill from the PCP (same purposes, joining the A4 and A13) – such as draft resolutions from Chega, the Liberal Initiative, PAN and a group of PSD and CDS-PP, for “the gradual and financially responsible reduction of tolls in the interior and on large metropolitan areas” -, several former socialist rulers intervened. Ana Mendes Godinho reduced a question from liberal deputy Mário Amorim Lopes to a “question of the past” about the name of the prime minister who introduced tolls in SCUT [José Sócrates], while former Secretary of State Jorge Botelho heard accusations of “pure hypocrisy and demagogy” coming from the PSD. Ana Abrunhosa remained silent, who as Minister of Territorial Cohesion, had ruled out the abolition of tolls a few months ago.