Ricardo Regalla Dias Pinto is a Portuguese businessman, former real estate consultant, and politician. He is currently a member of parliament for the Chega party. Dias Pinto is André Ventura’s chief of staff and Chega’s national director in charge of international relations, public relations, and protocol.
We talked about the failure of the center-right government and the call for new elections on May 18th.
The PSD government lost power after failing to win support for a motion of confidence. Once again, corruption, in this case by a family business of Prime Minister Montenegro, brings down a government in Portugal.
I cannot say that it is corruption, I leave that to the judgment of the court. But there are strong suspicions of conflicts of interest, because he receives monthly payments from a company that runs casinos and is directly dependent on the state for their renovation, for example. There are also serious suspicions of violation of the duty of exclusivity in the office of the Prime Minister, and several other dubious situations that are emerging with each passing day.
How do you assess Montenegro’s leadership?
It has always been far below expectations. He promised to solve the problems of the National Health Service, but everything got worse; he promised to lower taxes, and all he achieved was to lower the IRC [corporate income tax] by 1%; he guaranteed to solve the problem of unregulated and illegal immigration, but the reality shows an absurd growth of this scourge. In short, it was a real disappointment in terms of the work done.
After the elections, Montenegro’s social democrats (PSD) preferred to make a pact with the Socialists rather than with Chega, and they even asked for Socialist support again to avoid the failure of the motion of confidence. Why this love of the PSD for the Left?
The PSD has shown itself to be a center-left party with an obsessive need to justify itself and be accepted by the socialist left and the extreme left. It had everything to guarantee a stable government with a right-wing majority in alliance with Chega, but preferred the now famous “no, no” demanded by the Left, which the PS did not practice when it came to power in 2015 in an agreement with the Bloco de Esquerda and the PCP, the Portuguese Communist Party. But otherwise, it is a bit like what happens in the European Union itself, between the EPP and the S&D, which have always protected each other to ensure a “center” of power.
We are heading for the third election in three years. What is the cause of this instability?
The cause of the instability is precisely a series of corruption scandals in socialist and social democratic governments, combined with the cordon sanitaire that is now recurring throughout Europe, preventing the formation of majority right-wing coalitions.
Do you think these new elections will take their toll on the PSD? And on the socialists?
Yes, I think the PSD will be the most damaged, because the loss of the confidence motion and the resulting electoral advance has hurt them a lot. It seems that the Socialists will benefit from this situation and will be able to improve their results and overtake the PSD.
How is Chega approaching this new election campaign? Is it possible to achieve an even better result than in 2024?
We are going to the elections with the will to win! In opposition to the traditional parties, with arguments, with the right discourse, with the only leader capable of changing the paradigm of insecurity, illegal immigration, and corruption, among other chronic problems in Portugal. The rest will be democratically left in the hands of the voters. As one of our campaign slogans reads: Give us a chance!
You know the international political landscape very well. Do you think that the winds of change, with Trump’s victory and the good results of similar parties in Europe can give you a boost in Portugal?
Certainly, and I really believe that this change is the only alternative in the vast majority of countries in the European Union. But I also know that the traditional parties will put up a fight. And I think this fight will be very hard. Just look at what is happening in Romania and understand what the plan of the EPP, S&D and Renew parties is: persecution, annulment of elections, etc. In the end, the people will decide.
