In a press conference less than 24 hours after the inauguration of Luís Montenegro and the ministers of the new Government, Pedro Nuno Santos left several criticisms of the executive, in particular the prime minister’s speech. “Without ambition, without vision, without a plan for Portugal,” he said.
The PS general secretary criticized what he considers a speech from a Government of “victimization, lamentation and complaints”, also pointing out the “blackmail” on the Socialist Party.
“As if the PS were obliged to approve, support and enable a Government (…) that wants to implement a program with which the PS disagrees”he added.
Pedro Nuno Santos pointed out that the PSD cannot remain “fixed” and waiting for the PS “to resolve or give the majority that the Portuguese people understood not to give to the AD”, he pointed out, recalling the minimum difference of “around 50 thousand votes ” between the two parties in the elections.
“If Luís Montenegro’s ‘No is No’ is to be taken seriously, what I said on election night is also to be taken seriously. The PS will be the opposition, it will be a responsible opposition obviously. We will vote for what we agree with, we will vote against what we disagree with”, stressed the PS leader.
“Montenegro was willing to govern under these conditions”
“I couldn’t be there, period”, stated the secretary general at the insistence of the journalists present. “I deeply regret that you think this is the priority for politics in Portugal”, he added minutes later after a new question on the topic.
In relation to governability, Pedro Nuno Santos considered that, from a programmatic point of view, “there are more similarities” between the AD and Chega’s program than with the PS’s program.
“We have different views of the Social State, we have different views of fiscal policy. (…) It is difficult to make our vision of the country and the AD’s vision compatible”he pointed out.
“The AD made itself available to govern and Luís Montenegro made itself available to govern under these conditions. It does not have a majority, it has to seek to build solutions that allow it to advance some of its proposals”, he pointed out. The PS, which “will do its work in opposition”, does not have the role of “supporting or being a supporter of the PSD”, he added.
Still, the PS leader says that there is “total availability” for dialogue with the Government, awaiting “initiative” from the Prime Minister. “You cannot, from a position of arrogance, think that the PS is obliged to support your Government”, he stated.
Government “promised everything to everyone”
In this context, Pedro Nuno Santos asked that the PS be “respected”, using the episode of the election of the president of the Assembly of the Republic, which marked the beginning of the current legislature.
“The prime minister had no proposal to present. It was I who presented a proposal to unblock it”, he stated, referring to the agreement between PSD and PS for the division of the AR presidency between Aguiar Branco and Francisco Assis.
The PS secretary general once again demonstrated his willingness to make an amending Budget viable, but noted the new Government’s “typical speech of right-wing governments in Portugal”, stating that “there is no money”.
“It is not the budget surplus that puts pressure on governance. What puts pressure on this governance is the PSD’s economic program, the AD’s economic program. (…) The theory of full coffers resulted from an electoral campaign in which the AD promised everything to everyone“, he criticized.
Pedro Nuno Santos saw in Luís Montenegro’s words the “preparation of the political terrain for the non-implementation of everything that was promised”, he pointed out.
Tags: Victimization government blackmail Pedro Nuno Santos criticism Montenegros speech
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