The declarations were made after Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, announced that the Government had approved the construction of the new airport in the Lisbon region in Alcochete, following the recommendation of the Independent Technical Commission (CTI).

“This decision proves that voting for PS or PSD is the same. We are facing a decision by the Central Bloc that is only political”, declared PAN deputy, Inês de Sousa Real, who considered “clearly outdated” the reports that served as a basis for the Independent Technical Commission (CTI) to point out Alcochete as the best solution for the future Lisbon airport.

“It makes no sense to talk about a medium-term solution, as quality of life and environmental quality are not taken into account. We cannot have decisions of this size that will seriously affect one of the largest freshwater basins in the country”, she explained.

On the part of the parties that support the Government, the PSD and the CDS-PP, the two parliamentary leaders, Hugo Soares and Paulo Núncio, respectively, classified the Government's decision to build the new airport, together with the third crossing, of the Tagus and the high-speed rail connection to Madrid, as “historic”.

Hugo Soares pointed out that the PSD was at the origin of the decision now implemented even when it was in opposition, by agreeing with António Costa's executive a methodology for choosing the location. But he also made a point of pointing out that this was not the solution of the then Minister of Infrastructure and current secretary general of the PS, Pedro Nuno Santos.

“Pedro Nuno Santos wanted to build an airport first in Montijo and only then, at the end of the line, in Alcochete. An unthinkable solution”, he commented, before Paulo Núncio highlighted that the decision of the PSD/CDS-PP executive shows “a Government that is governing”.

The president of Chega, André Ventura, held the PS responsible for the decades-long impasse on the issue of building the new airport, praised the Government for intending to name the new airport infrastructure after Luís de Camões, but criticised the Prime Minister for not having presented any details about why you chose Alcochete and why you excluded other options.

“What is the reason for the first runway to only be built within 13 years? How much more will you spend on this decision? What is the timetable for construction? Now, none of this has been explained,” he pointed out.

André Ventura even said that CTI was suspected of benefiting Alcochete for the location of the new airport and that “the Government did not explain why it chose that location”.

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