Chega nasEuropeans candidate acknowledges the presence of Portuguese troops on Ukrainian soil and says he is not afraid of Russian retaliation. “To retaliate against Portugal, we had to retaliate against everyone”
António Tânger Corrêa, head of SEGA’s list for Europeans, told CNN Portugal that “Ukraine should not give up territory” but that Russia “doesn’t need to lose in a definite way”. What does that mean? “You either lose or you don’t lose…the deal is only good if it benefits both sides — for example, entering into a kind of enhanced cooperation with Russia that the Russians would be comfortable with.”
It’s a thesis, says Tânger Corrêa, “like the others,” but it’s his. In the field of hypotheses, the career diplomat “theoretically” admits the presence of Portuguese troops on the Ukrainian battlefield. “The feedback is basically positive, but who are we going to command in the state where we left the armed forces … so we have to try in that direction,” he insists. Fear of retaliation from Putin’s government: “To retaliate against Portugal, everyone had to retaliate.”
The diplomat opened the interview by assuring that he was not a Putinist, as Ruy Tavares had accused him during the June 9 election campaign. Only in a speech accepting responsibility for the Ukrainian invasion of Kiev did he comment “very well.” “It was well written, rather like the others”, he says, highlighting that he doesn’t regret doing it today. “I didn’t defend it, I quoted it – no sorry, but if it was today I wouldn’t quote it again,” he points out, clarifying that his “opinion is completely out of step with what’s going on.” On”. “Calling me a Putinist is radical, it’s boring, it’s not true.”
He agreed to go to court after the election results against Sebastião Bugalho and others who accused him of anti-Semitism for saying they had been warned by Jews on September 11. “It’s a low attack in the election campaign, he told me he should raise me, and it upsets me because I didn’t say that.”
On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he says he favors a two-state solution, but “in the midst of a conflict, any solution is very complicated”. As for which side he’s on, he says he can’t say “we always support the Israelis” and that “it’s the Israelis more than the Hamas fighters.”
In an interview with CNN Portugal, Tânger Corrêa also stressed the need to “close external borders” so that “working conditions” are “guaranteed” for migrants who choose Portugal as their destination. “Working conditions should be guaranteed and animals shouldn’t live like they don’t… Actually, I like animals, so the exposure is unfortunate.”
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