First day of parliamentary debate sees CHEGA present motion of rejection
The first day of debate of the PS government’s programme for the XXIII Constitutional government got the bumpy ride expected today – which will no doubt continue into tomorrow.
But there is no doubt that the masterplan will be approved: the PS has an ‘absolute majority’.
In other words, there were no surprises: the PM repeated everything explained last Friday, stressing he has no intention of leaving this 3rd and final mandate (as prime minister); the other parties showed deep skepticism as to the likelihood of all the promises translating into realities – and CHEGA took it on itself (with its ‘new bench’ of 12 MPs) to present a motion of rejection.
Other minority parties however will not be siding with CHEGA. As outgoing PSD leader Rui Rio remarked, the right wing party only presented the motion to ‘get noticed’.
Tomorrow will see the last day for debate, after which the programme will be ‘approved’ and it will be time to get back to the serious job of running the country, and powering it back to recovery.
None of this will be easy – particularly as the new minister for economy António Costa e Silva is already under pressure from the tourism/ restaurant sectors to bring in new methods of support for the businesses that have suffered the worse through the pandemic.
