Portugal’s extremist far-right Chega party has decided to postpone the “World Right Summit” – a meeting with international far-right figures that the party was organising and was scheduled for mid-May in Lisbon – following harassment experienced by some of the main guests.
“Chega will have to suspend and reschedule the World Right Summit that was planned for 13 and 14 May for a later date,” the leader of Chega announced in a video recorded in Budapest, where he will attend the Conservative Political Action Conference and meet with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
In the video, André Ventura justified the decision with what he says is the “harassment some of the main guests have been subjected to.”
“In respect for many of these guests, especially North Americans and recently the former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro and his entourage, who have been prevented from travelling by the Brazilian state, Chega has decided to reschedule the summit for a later date,” he indicated.
Ventura criticised “the spirit of aggression, conditioning and the threat that reigns in certain countries” and expressed “indignation and amazement at the surgical attack, focused and coinciding with the date on which many of them were going to travel to Lisbon.”
“We will organise it again with more strength and more firmness because we know that the future is not socialism, the future is the right governing their nations with respect for their identity, their traditions and promoting the growth and prosperity that our citizens expect,” indicated the president of Chega.
The “World Right Summit” was scheduled for 13 and 14 May and to be held at the Lisbon Congress Centre. Tickets cost €5 for party members and €10 for non-members.
The programme of this initiative was not disclosed, but according to the president of Chega, the presence of the former president of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro and the Italian Deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini, was planned.
The party also said on its website that it had confirmed the presence of Mark Ivanyo, executive director of Republicans for National Renewal, MEP Gerolf Annemans (Identity and Democracy, Chega’s European political family), as well as members of the Fidesz (Hungary), Vox (Spain), EKRE (Estonia) and AUR (Romania) parties.
(Francisca Matos, Lusa.pt. Edited by Cristina Fernandes Ferreira)
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