IL accuses Chega and Bloco of “witch hunt” and criticizes “useless” land law

The Liberal Initiative (IL) today accused Chega and Bloco de Esquerda of carrying out a “witch hunt” against politicians who may be involved in the real estate sector and considered that the changes introduced to the land law make it useless.

These positions were defended in parliament by the president of the Liberal Initiative (IL), Rui Rocha, for whom Bloco de Esquerda and Chega intend to “establish a climate of witch hunt against real estate activity in Portugal”.

“There are parties, namely Chega and Bloco de Esquerda, that are currently working hard to find MPs, government officials, whoever it may be, who may have some activity or connection to companies or the real estate sector,” he pointed out.

The president of IL then highlighted, in contrast, that “in Portugal, having a life outside of politics is not a criminal record, and having an economic activity, whatever it may be, but also in the real estate sector, is not a criminal record either”.

Speaking to journalists, Rui Rocha cited the recent survey of cases carried out by the Left Bloc on politicians with links to the real estate sector to point out that no IL MP was found in this situation.

“I confess that I didn’t ask anyone, because it seems completely irrelevant to me. There is no problem, in general, for people to have economic activity, namely activity in the real estate sector. But it seems that this witch hunt has already had repercussions in the Chega case,” he noted.

In his statements, the president of IL also criticized the changes agreed between PSD, PS and Chega, in particular, in the so-called land law, arguing that the future legislation will not resolve “the supply crisis in the housing market”.

“This discussion has been completely falsified. Firstly, we are not even talking about any Land Law, but rather about changes to the legal framework of land management instruments”, he argued.

Rui Rocha also considered that the discussion is being “falsified, because legislation is being prepared that will not solve any problem, as it is completely insufficient”.

“In the specialization phase, there have been a series of changes that result from an alignment between PS, PSD and also Chega in the sense that what was already very insufficient is now completely useless. We are seeing the introduction of elements that make the new law more rigid, which will make it completely useless”, he added.

The IL leader also criticized recent statements made by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, on this matter.

“On Tuesday, he contributed to creating the illusion that great fortunes will be made with this land law. But that won’t happen. This legislation will be absolutely useless,” he added.