Portugal’s ‘People, Animals, Nature’ Party, PAN, has signed a four-year parliamentary agreement with the PSD/CDS-PP centre-right coalition in Madeira, enabling an absolute majority in the regional parliament.
Speaking at a press conference at the PAN/Madeira headquarters in Funchal, the elected member said that the possibility of forming a coalition with the PSD and CDS-PP – the parties that currently govern the region – “was never on the table” and that there is now “a parliamentary agreement that the PAN has proposed to discuss and negotiate with the coalition”.
“We are not part of a parliamentary majority,” she stressed, pointing out that the aim of the agreement is to develop her party’s electoral programme.
This document, she said, focuses on the party’s causes, covering, for example, the implementation of a tourist tax in the region, support for organic farming, free vaccinations for animals, the updating of rent support and the creation of autonomous homes for victims of domestic violence.
“These are some of the proposals in PAN’s electoral programme that will come to fruition with this parliamentary agreement,” she said, adding that the party would “evaluate and monitor the process of the Ginjas road and the Curral das Freiras cable car, guaranteeing the protection and preservation of the environment”.
The candidate’s representative, Marco Gonçalves, added that the agreement signed “obliges the PSD parliamentary group” to “discuss all legislative initiatives in advance”.
“All parliamentary work will be subject to prior analysis by PAN, including ensuring that PAN’s programmatic measures are included in the government programme,” he said.
Mónica Freitas also said that the PAN “will not take on any governmental role”.
“With this step, we also assume the responsibility of being the great buffer for the extreme right and the guarantor of democracy in Madeira,” she added.
Source: LUSA
