PCP in Ovibeja: Prime Minister’s promises are not compatible with submission to the EU

The general secretary of the PCP said, this Thursday, that he enjoyed seeing the Prime Minister on the first day of Ovibeja giving a speech encouraging farmers. Visiting the largest agricultural fair in the south of the country, Paulo Raimundo even stated that Luís Montenegro’s words “were not just lip service”. However, he says there are disagreements as the country’s “submission” to the options of the European Union (EU) and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are incompatible with any promise the government may make. “There is no alternative for farmers and for us to maintain this path of submission to the CAP and EU fund options,” he said.

The communist also said that the Prime Minister “is even aware that it is not possible to fulfill what he is promising”.

Speaking to journalists, on the sidelines of his late afternoon visit to Ovibeja, Paulo Raimundo also stated that national agriculture deserves all the attention that this government can give it. “Farmers have the capacity, they have the conditions, they have evolved a lot and they have the capacity to go much further in agricultural production,” he stated.

Portugal needs to increase consumption of national production and reduce imports of many food items. “We can produce here and we produce with quality. We have that advantage,” she concluded.