Ventura sticks to CHEGA’s State Budget ‘red lines’
Political posturing over the State Budget – which has to pass next month, or Marcelo will call new elections – continues today, with CHEGA leader André Ventura accusing the government of “wanting to provoke elections”, in order to avoid negotiating with the opposition.
In Ventura’s mind, the government “never had any interest” in negotiations: it is banking on coming out of a new round of legislative elections strong enough in order not to have to.
Speaking to journalists at the party’s national headquarters in Lisbon today, André Ventura said PS Socialists are “playing the same game”: Pedro Nuno Santos “wants elections; he just doesn’t know when, nor does he know when the PS machine will let him want elections”.
Referring to Sunday’s exchange of unpleasantries between the two party leaders, Ventura said they amounted to “a sad spectacle” – showing that “neither Luís Montenegro nor Pedro Nuno Santos are concerned with giving the country a budget.
“They both want to get out of this budget soap opera as best they can, without taking responsibility for the political crisis that the President of the Republic has already announced will come if there is no budget.
“CHEGA is out of this show, because we realised from the first moment that the government didn’t really want to negotiate with anyone”, he said.
Ventura also said that the meeting scheduled on Friday between Montenegro and Pedro Nuno is an “example of how Portuguese politics is”, since on “the very day that the PS complained that there was no meeting – and the PS denied that it had not been available to make one – miraculously, five minutes later, a meeting is scheduled for next Friday.
“This is how politics is done in Portugal! This is how things happen, and it’s good that people realise this, because it shows the lack of commitment that both the PS and PSD have on this issue of the State Budget”, said Ventura.
The CHEGA leader also reiterated that the government can only count on the party to make the State Budget viable if a new proposal is built in from scratch that doesn’t have Socialist validation.
CHEGA is not afraid to go to the polls again, he stressed – even though political commentator Luís Marques Mendes predicted yesterday that another round of elections would see CHEGA lose anything between 15-20 seats. But, Ventura added – echoing the message last week from President Marcelo – elections are the last thing the country needs… “Regardless of who benefits or is harmed by (elections) – and even if our party is harmed – (they) will be bad for Portugal. And I think political leaders should have taken that into account a few months ago”, he said.
With the finesse of a political Houdini, Ventura wriggled out of many of the statements on the State Budget he has made in the recent past, and ‘embraced’ the message of the country’s Head of State.
At the same time, a statement from the prime minister’s office has alluded to Luís Montenegro having had meetings not only with André Ventura, but with the leader of Iniciativa Liberal, Rui Rocha as well.
“There are no secret meetings at São Bento” (the prime minister’s official residence), said the statement (scotching media rumours of last week) but “there are meetings with organisations and personalities from various fields, including political leaders, on topics of national interest, which often take place discreetly and without the presence of the media”.
Source material: LUSA/ SIC Notícias
