Enough wants to “build an alternative government” with the PSD to European governments

At the end of an audience of about an hour with the President of the Republic at the Palace of Belém, in Lisbon, requested following his re-election as President of Chega during the convention at the end of January, André Ventura declared having expressed to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa the commitment to "begin to build an alternative to be ready at the time of the European elections and in a medium-term framework".

Addressing journalists flanked by Marta Trindade, vice-president of the party, the leader of Chega declared that the construction of this alternative “also depends on the PSD”, therefore “it must be a work of two”.

André Ventura indicated that he was not talking about “neither coalitions nor agreements”.

“When I say an alternative, no one will sign an agreement. We must give the country, the president, the Portuguese, the feeling that there is an alternative if we are called upon to make this choice,” he stressed.

Ventura said he had not yet spoken with PSD leader Luís Montenegro, but argued that "more than dialogue, phone calls and meetings, there must be convergence in criticism and solution ".

"What is important is not the number of times I talk on the phone with Luís Montenegro or that Luís Montenegro talks to me on the phone, it is whether in parliament, which is the house of democracy, there is commonalities in the action of criticism – and there are several of them, with different styles, as has happened now in Banif, in the criticism of ministers, in the commission of inquiry – and there also has common alternative solutions”, he defended himself.

Although he has not yet invited the Social Democratic leader to a meeting to discuss this issue, the president of Chega is convinced that it will happen: "It would be bad if the leader of the PSD refused to meet the leader of the third Portuguese group. left for no apparent reason, as I would meet any other leader".

“I think now is the best time for it. If Luís Montenegro doesn't want it now, if he prefers it closer to summer… I think the important thing is to have political contact now,” he stressed.

The president of Chega anticipated that the regional elections in Madeira, later this year, could constitute a "first test" of the "scenario of an eventual governance".

André Ventura insisted on the fact that “between Chega and PSD an alternative must be created”: “We cannot arrive at the European elections without an alternative. We cannot arrive, I dare say, this summer, this autumn, without an alternative, and it is up to us to tell that to the Portuguese, ”he stressed.

The President of Chega also considered that "the President of the Republic is perfectly aware of this scenario".

“The president recognizes, like us, the need for an alternative. And he has already said that he cannot in any way take an initiative that would put an end to this majority if there is no alternative,” he said.

"If we don't, we cannot complain or ask the President of the Republic to dissolve parliament," he stressed.

Asked about the resignation of the president of the National Innovation Agency, Joana Mendonça, citing a lack of conditions to continue in office, Ventura defended "it shows how this climate of disintegration is underway in the highest levels of the state apparatus and how important it is to such an alternative”.

FM // JPS