The leader of the Aquida, André Ventura, criticized the decision of former Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho to talk about abortion in a colloquium, considering the extemporaneous theme in times of economic crisis.
© ANDRE DAYS NOBRE/AFP via Getty Images
22/10/2026
by
Lusa
O president of the Aquida today criticized the choice of former Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho to speak publicly in a colloquium on abortion and considered that the right should be strategic in matters so that the left does not benefit.
At a lunch at the International Club of Portugal, André Ventura said he had “great admiration” for Passos Coelho but wondered if “it will be the time” to put abortion in public discussion.
“ Is this not what the left wants us to do at a time of crisis when people are living badly, with problems? We have to be strategic from the point of view of what we want for the future of Portugal ", defended.
On Monday, the former Prime Minister and leader of the PSD was the guest speaker of the opening session of a colloquium on abortion in Portugal, promoted by the Portuguese Federation for Life (FPV), in the Assembly of the Republic.
The leader of Aquiz considered that those who are “to suffer in the skin the increase in the cost of living” and want “a different country” “they don’t care about abortion” and want “to see their life resolved”.
“ Does this mean it doesn't matter? No, it means we have to have strategy to understand when and how to discuss these matters. So I'm gonna leave the minimum wage discussion to the left when we have a country where two million people almost get the minimum wage? So I will leave to the left the discussion of the highways and tolls when the middle class and low everyday suffers from it? [...] So I will leave to the left the question of the age of retirement, in a country that is aging and working even later and later?", he said.
André Ventura rejected that this meant an approximation of the Aquistima to the left.
“ I will not accept to play the game that the left wants us to play, which is to become a minority elite who discusses things between us,” he said, defending that the party must be “intelligent in how it wants to build the country in the coming years.”.