Speaking to journalists in parliament, André Ventura announced that he had instructed the Chega Parliamentary Group to approve the PS bill, which is being debated and voted on today, considering that if it were to be rejected, the party "would be absolutely inconsistent with itself".

"Chega defended in the electoral campaign, clearly and explicitly, the end of all tolls. I said, moreover, that it was one of the most daring proposals. It was the commitment we made: to work gradually towards the end of all tolls", he said.

Ventura stressed that Chega sought to reach a consensus with the Government on a timetable for the reduction of tolls - instead of it being immediate, as proposed by the PS - but it was not possible to reach an agreement.

Thus, "Chega will make the immediate reduction and the immediate end of tolls on the ex-SCUTs viable, because we understand that a proposal that is too gradual and without commitment could harm the expectations of the Portuguese, who feel that they have real relief in tolls", he announced.

With this vote in favour of Chega, the PS proposal will thus have enough votes to be approved in general.

André Ventura defended that "the Government should victimise itself less and govern more" and also accused the PS of "enormous hypocrisy" for now proposing the reduction of tolls, when it was in Government for eight years and did not do so.

"But we live well with the Government's hypocrisy. What we do not live well with is having the burden of responsibility for having defended, during an entire campaign, the end of tolls and now being an obstacle to their reduction or immediate exemption", he said.

Asked about the reasons why he did not reach an agreement with the Government to schedule the gradual reduction of tolls, the leader of Chega did not want to elaborate, stressing that there are responsibilities "on both sides" for not having reached a consensus.

"We assume our responsibility in this share, but, given the option we had to make it viable or not, and knowing that only Chega can make this proposal viable, we understand that it should be made viable because it will allow people to stop paying tolls in key areas in the coming months", he said.

The end of tolls on ex-SCUT motorways will be debated today in parliament on the initiative of the PS, with the proposals having an uncertain outcome since the parties have not "opened the game" in relation to the voting intentions.

The PS bill - which had been announced by the leader, Pedro Nuno Santos, during the debate on Luís Montenegro's Government Programme in early April - was joined by those of the BE and PCP, as well as the draft resolutions (without the force of law) of IL, PSD/CDS-PP, PAN and Chega.

Read Also: Parliament debates today the end of tolls on ex-SCUTs. Outcome is unknown (Portuguese version)