The general secretary of the Socialist Party admits moving forward with the choice for the new Lisbon airport even without the support of the PSD. The indication was given this Monday during the legislative debate between Pedro Nuno Santos and Luís Montenegro on the three national television channels.
“We want to ensure a consensus with the PSD and all parties and we will seek this consensus”, assured Pedro Nuno Santos, and then indicated that “we are moving forward even without the PSD”.
At issue are the statements made by the leader of the Democratic Alliance (AD), Luís Montenegro, who stated that he wanted to set up a working group after presenting the report of the independent commission. “We have been deciding on the location of the new airport for 50 years”, stated Pedro Nuno Santos, and then emphasized that a decision needs to be made. In response, Montenegro recalled that the PS “had eight years to decide, it decided badly and against the will of the prime minister”, referring to the episode in which Pedro Nuno Santos, then Minister of Infrastructure, announced the decision on the location of the airport.
The order of the then Minister of Infrastructures, the Government’s solution would be to move forward with the works at Montijo in 2023 with a runway complementary to that of Portela, moving in parallel towards a new airport infrastructure from scratch at Campo de Tiro de Alcochete, more designed for the long term.
The diploma was short-lived, and a few hours later, the prime minister revoked the order disauthorizing Pedro Nuno Santos.
For now, the AD leader is not committed to a quick decision for the new airport, pointing to the creation of a working group to evaluate the location based on the work of the independent technical committee, formed precisely after the aforementioned order.
(News updated at 21:50)