The Prime Minister today considered that the PS wants to “hit the nail on the head” by challenging the executive to present a vote of confidence, saying that the question is whether or not the Socialists will have a sense of responsibility.
This answer was given by Luís Montenegro after the vice-president of the Socialist bench Pedro Delgado Alves had taken up a challenge made moments earlier by the PS secretary-general, Pedro Nuno Santos, for the government to present a vote of confidence if it really wants to clarify whether it has the conditions to govern.
The Prime Minister, however, put the question about the conditions of governability the other way around, placing the PS at the center of the decision.
“The PS wanted to turn the screw here. Let’s put the situation into context: the PS doesn’t want to make the formation of the government impossible and I respect and welcome that decision. But by giving the executive the capacity to start its activity, this means that the government must have the conditions to implement a program that was not rejected,” said Luís Montenegro.
For the Prime Minister, therefore, this attitude of “democratic respect” on the part of the PS “must last for the entire legislature”.
“That’s not a guarantee of the government’s entire action, because the members of parliament will have to assess at each moment the goodness of our proposals and the consequences of not approving them, until the moment when they eventually decide that the executive should no longer govern. At that point, they will have to table a motion of censure,” he said.
Luís Montenegro insisted that the PS “does not have to back the government’s action”.
“But, out of respect for the people’s decision and, by the way, for itself – on election night it said it wanted to go into opposition – in keeping its word, and with the track record of having governed for 22 of the last 28 years, the PS will decide. What we want is responsibility and commitment. And let this be very clear from this debate: not rejecting the program means giving the government the conditions to govern,” he stressed.
