Choice on site of new Lisbon airport a political decision
Luís Montenegro said he was confident that the alleged difficulties in contracting environmental impact studies can be managed by the government, in conjunction with the independent commission.
The leader of the Portuguese Social Democratic Party (PSD) said on Monday in Setúbal that his party only agreed with the government on the methodology to be used for studies on a new Lisbon airport, recalling that “the choice is a political decision”.
“Contrary to what is sometimes going around, this technical commission is not going to choose the new location of the airport. This is a mistake. This does not correspond to what is written in the Cabinet resolution and was the subject of the understanding between the PSD and the government,” said Luis Montenegro at a breakfast with journalists as part of the PSD “Feel Portugal” initiative in Setúbal.
“The technical commission does not make choices. The technical committee says, from a technical point of view, what are the advantages and disadvantages, how much each option costs, what is the deadline for implementation and what are the characteristics of each option. It is the political power that chooses, and there is still no agreement on the choice. There is agreement about the methodology to be used, but about the choice, we will see at the end, when the study is done”, added the social-democrat leader.
Luís Montenegro said he was confident that the alleged difficulties in contracting environmental impact studies can be managed by the government, in conjunction with the independent commission.
“What I wish is that this is all taken care of. And I hope, above all, that at the end of the year there is a rigorous assessment – a strategic environmental assessment, not just an environmental assessment – so that we can draw conclusions about the advantages and disadvantages of each of the options,” stressed the PSD leader.
Questioned by journalists, Luís Montenegro also confirmed that the PSD defends the construction of road bridges Barreiro/Montijo and Barreiro/Seixal, as had already been defended by the Setúbal district political commission of the PSD, which last May 15 criticised the PS (socialist) government for having transformed a promise to build road bridges into pedestrian bridges.
“Once again, the PS government deceives the Setúbal district with propaganda and illusion. From the promised road bridges, we have moved to pedestrian and cycling bridges, which do not solve any problem”, accused the Setúbal PSD district political commission at the time.
About the problems of health and the national health service in the Setúbal region, the lack of infrastructures and health professionals, among others, which are common to almost the whole country, Luís Montenegro said that the PSD will present in the coming weeks another set of proposals for health, but recalled that the Portuguese should ask for responsibility for the current state of affairs, not from the PSD, but from the PS government that has been in power for eight years.
Faced with the local government reality in the district of Setúbal, dominated by the PS and the CDU (Coligação Democrática Unitária is a left-wing coalition, formed by the Portuguese Communist Party and the Ecologist Party Os Verdes), Luís Montenegro said he would like to see a different picture.
“I see a picture that I do not want to see, painted only in red and pink,” said the PSD leader, stressing that, despite everything, the situation has been changing and that the influence of the PCP (Communist Party of Portugal) is no longer the same as in other times.
“The preponderance of the Communist Party is no longer the same as it was 25 years ago. Within this trend, which unfortunately has been more of a shift from the PCP to the PS, that we can intimate ourselves”, said Luís Montenegro, hoping that a contagion effect can occur, after the PSD has won the first local council in the district of Setúbal.
