In a dispatch by José Pedro Aguiar-Branco to which the Lusa agency had access, it is stated that the extraordinary conference of parliamentary leaders met on Thursday to decide on the scheduling requested by Chega "on the situation caused by the statements of the President of the Republic regarding historical reparation to the overseas provinces".

According to the president of the parliament, it was necessary to make a decision taking into account "the lack of consensus" and the impossibility of scheduling an extraordinary plenary meeting for this afternoon due to the minimum statutory notice of 24 hours, it not being possible to schedule for 6 and 7 May due to the BE parliamentary days, for 10 May due to the Livre congress and for 13 and 14 May due to the IL parliamentary days.

Aguiar-Branco decided to "defer the request of the Chega parliamentary group and proceed with the scheduling of the urgent debate for the morning of 15 May, at 10:00".

According to the president of the parliament, it is "the closest possible date that allows to accommodate the wishes of the requesting parliamentary group to what was decided, by majority, in the Leaders' Conference, within the constraints of the agenda and the statutory limitations".

On Thursday, Chega insisted on the scheduling of this debate, and the president of the Assembly of the Republic promised to make a decision "in the next few hours".

Speaking to journalists after the extraordinary meeting of the leaders' conference on Thursday, the parliamentary leader of Chega said that there had been "a coalition between all the parties against the urgent debate" requested by his party.

Pedro Pinto considered that the debate, which the party wanted to schedule for Thursday, should be held by Monday or Tuesday and accused the other political forces of having made "a thousand and one excuses for it not to be scheduled" and of "not being interested in holding this debate".

Indicating that the president of the Assembly of the Republic "would think about it" and make a decision on the matter, Pedro Pinto appealed "to the sensitivity" of José Pedro Aguiar-Branco and asked that the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly of the Republic be complied with.

Also speaking to journalists, the spokesman for the leaders' conference indicated that the parliament has "two consecutive weeks with potestative schedules for setting the agenda" and that "the exercise of two statutory rights that end up conflicting" is at stake.

The PSD deputy indicated that there was "a largely majority understanding among the political forces that, given that there are potestative debates for setting the agenda, it is not possible to add new items or hold other debates during that day", while Chega understood "that urgent debates are a right that overrides all other debates".

Jorge Paulo Oliveira also said that it is not possible to schedule extraordinary plenary sessions, recalling that parliamentary days and a congress are scheduled for next week, so there will be no parliamentary work on those days.

The deputy also indicated that "plenary meetings, unless there is a consensus of the leaders' conference, can only be held on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons and on Friday mornings", and must be convened with at least 24 hours' notice.

The spokesman for the leaders' conference had already said that the first opportunity for the debate to take place after the potestative debates is on 15 May, when a fortnightly debate with the Prime Minister is scheduled.

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