Montenegro warns opposition: “Even if there is no convergence, we will govern”

A direct response to the opposition leader and a warning to the political country. “Even if there is no convergence, we will govern†, said LuÃs Montenegro this Thursday, when asked about the need for dialogue and negotiation of measures between the Government, which is a minority, and the opposition.

Next to the Prime Minister was, in a “confluence and coincidence†, the President of the Republic, who has appealed to “political stability†, to prevent the country from plunging into a new crisis. Montenegro and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa went to the Agriculture Fair, in Santarém, where the prime minister recalled the promise he made in the campaign – “the government will only win the elections†– to justify the idea that it can advance §ar even without agreements with other parties. “I wish it were like this [ficar em primeiro] to be legitimized to decide on behalf of the Portuguese.”

The message is mainly for the PS and for the leader of the opposition, Pedro Nuno Santos, who this Wednesday, accused the Executive of carrying out propaganda to create the “false idea of ​​governing†and of using legislative authorizations (instead of presenting proposed laws) as a way of circumventing Parliament’s powers.

When asked about this strategy, Montenegro responded. “Do you really think people want to know?†he asked journalists at the Fair. “Do you really think the Portuguese want to know if it is a legislative authorization or a law proposal? I ask if this is what political agents focus on”.

For the Prime Minister, talk about legislative authorizations is “an excessively technocratic vision of politics†, which takes attention away from what is essential, where you say you are concentrating. “The essential thing is to respond to people and that is governing and it is the responsibility of the Government”.

With the European elections chapter closed, accusations of intransigence and lack of openness continue to be exchanged between the AD and the PS, as happened in the last plenary in the Assembly of the Republic.

The threatening warning now left by Montenegro, promising to govern even without agreements, “is not to be confused with arrogance, it is pure responsibility”, defends the prime minister. Why? Because “the Government has always been in dialogue†, but “it cannot force oppositions that do not have the political will to materialize this dialogue into convergence†.

This Friday there will be a Council of Ministers in which a package of corrective measures for water use will be announced. It was Montenegro himself who announced it in the same sequence of questions, with the Minister of Agriculture, José Manuel Fernandes, also accompanying him.

The idea is to “alleviate the restrictions on agriculture, tourism and human consumption†of water, said Montenegro, recalling an announcement made in May about a project called ‘The Water that Unites⠒, for the “planning and strategic management of this resource, enhancing its good use and storage†.

The Council of Ministers meeting begins at 9 am, at the Prime Minister’s official residence, in Lisbon.