At the end of the CDS-PP parliamentary days, this Tuesday (24), the speeches had a dominant note: the blunt criticism of the Socialist Party, both for its position in relation to the elections for bodies external to parliament, and for the recent trip of its general secretary, José Luís Carneiro, to Venezuela. In his closing speech, the centrist leader, Nuno Melo, accused the PS of “hijacking democracy” and not accepting the results of the last legislative elections, pointing out the blockage in the functioning of institutions such as the Constitutional Court.
“Democracy cannot be hijacked because the PS does not accept electoral results”said the Minister of Defense, stating that the “regular functioning of institutions” must be “respected by all parties with governing responsibilities”. According to the president of the CDS, the current impasse demonstrates that the socialists “have not yet accepted” the new correlation of forces emerging from the polls.
Nuno Melo also highlighted that the PS “is no longer the second political force”, asking the party to recognize its new parliamentary status. “Democracy is the expression of the free people”, he stressed, remembering that the CDS itself was already outside parliament and returned through voting: “The CDS can give itself as an example, because when the results in democracy are not what we want, what we have to do is fight and work to be bigger, to grow, to win our elections, it is not to block democracy in a way of contesting the popular will.”
Centrists say Aries’ trip to Venezuela was ‘irresponsible’
Another of the dominant themes was José Luís Carneiro’s visit to Venezuela, also criticized by deputy João Almeida throughout the days. Nuno Melo considered that the PS secretary general “was not in one of his best moments” and accused him of legitimizing Venezuelan institutions that, he said, exclude the opposition.
“The European Parliament has been condemning what is happening in Venezuela for years, and we must be aligned with these positions”, stated the centrist leader, arguing that there are matters in which “small politics cannot compromise”.
Nuno Melo also reinforced that Portugal must maintain a “clear and coherent” position in defending human rights, warning of the need for a foreign policy aligned with European democratic values.
And he guaranteed that “the CDS stands on the side of young people who, also in Venezuela, are detained in universities for crimes of opinion, and on the side of those who also in Venezuela fight every day because they want to be free and want to live in democracy.”
Also Representative João Almeida was particularly harsh, in a previous intervention dedicated to the cases of Venezuela and Iran, classifying Carneiro’s displacement as “untimely, reckless and irresponsible”, describes the Express. Almeida warned of the risks of “parallel diplomacy”, stressing that the conduct of foreign policy is the responsibility of the Government and must follow its own institutional channels.
According to João Almeida, the visit could have negative consequences for the Portuguese and Portuguese-descendant community in that country, in addition to being instrumentalized by a regime that it considers illegitimate. The centrist also criticized meetings with Venezuelan government officials and Carneiro’s laudatory statements about Venezuelan universities which, the deputy accuses, ignore that “in these universities teachers were arrested and students were arrested just because they had a different opinion.”
with Lusa
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