Ventura guarantees that he has “proof” that meetings with Montenegro took place, but will leave confirmation to the prime minister
André Ventura guarantees that he met with the Prime Minister five times for negotiations, where an agreement was proposed to approve the Budget and the integration of the Government next year. In an interview with the Now channel, he stated that he did not accept because Chega wanted a governance agreement for the four years of the legislature.
The first contact was made by Luís Montenegro between May and September, said the president of Chega, after disclosing in a publication on the social network , at his request” to discuss “a specific agreement”.
There were meetings before July 15th, about which André Ventura refused to share details, and which culminated in the final negotiation on September 23rd. On that date, it was “clear” that Chega would not accept a “one-year patch agreement”.
Andre Ventura assured that he can “prove” the existence of these meetings, where only he and the Prime Minister were present, but considers it “unnecessary” to do so. He also stated that he had documents to prove it, but that he would leave it for the future. “I think the prime minister should have the opportunity, after having started that soap opera of disregard, I am giving the prime minister the chance to confirm this”, he stated.
Regarding Luís Montenegro’s statements this Friday, the president of Chega considered that “it was very clear that the prime minister did not want to deny that this meeting had existed”.
“From the chief of staff to all the security forces at the São Bento residence and the employees, It’s reckless to deny this meetingwhich only shows the amateurism that Luís Montenegro has in this matter“, he accused.
José Fonseca Fernandes
Chega entered the negotiation in “good faith” and with the hope of achieving “the stability of the country” through the construction of “a majority situation on the right”. At the meeting, Luís Montenegro allegedly offered a agreement for “Chega to join the government at the beginning of next year or during the next year”. However, Ventura’s party refused, in part, because the agreement would be “hidden from the Portuguese until January, February or March”, which means that there would be no justification for making the Budget viable before its electorate and deputies.
During the interview, admitted that, “in the name of transparency, he should have disclosed” the meetings when they took placebut assured that he was asked by the prime minister to keep the meetings secret. “I understood that I was contributing to what I always said was a right-wing majority solution”, he stated when saying that he believed the words of Montenegro, who stated that the PS and Pedro Nuno Santos were not trustworthy.
“I assumed that we were having a frank conversation about development and construction. Today I look back and know that nothing like that happened,” he said. He also mentioned that, in meetings, the prime minister “was always reluctant” to accept Chega’s flagssuch as immigration or the fight against corruption.
Ventura also guarantees that, in the last meeting on September 23, Luís Montenegro told him that he could leave through the back door to Parliament so as not to be seen by journalists leaving through the main door. He further explained that he decided not to publicize this meeting because the prime minister seemed willing to continue negotiations.
The president of Chega assured that he would not allow himself to be “conditioned” by the “powers of the State”, remembering that he was threatened without elaborating on what happened. “Everyone knows what the regime’s usual forces are and the center of interests in which they move, especially between PSD and PS. There were several threats and insinuations”, including that he would be “putting my political career at risk” if he disclosed these meetingsguaranteed Ventura.
