Assunção Cristas, a commentator for CNN Portugal, believes that 'it will become increasingly difficult to reach an agreement' for the labour package.
Chega 'resigned from negotiations' for the labour package 'by presenting a condition that no sensible Government can accept'

Context & Explainers

Chega ("Enough") is a Portuguese far-right populist party founded in 2019 by André Ventura. It positions itself as an anti-establishment movement against what it calls a "rotten and corrupt system" of PS-PSD dominance. The party surged from 1.3% in 2019 to 22.8% in May 2025, becoming parliament's second-largest force with 60 seats. Chega's core platform emphasizes strict immigration control—ending automatic CPLP residency, deporting non-independent immigrants, implementing job-market quotas, and requiring five-year social security contributions before benefit access. It advocates radical constitutional reform, including reducing parliament to 100 members, abolishing the prime minister position for a presidential system, and dismantling public healthcare. Law-and-order policies include life imprisonment and chemical castration proposals.
The party is defined by inflammatory anti-Romani rhetoric, with Ventura convicted multiple times for discrimination. Chega maintains international alignments with European far-right figures including Marine Le Pen, Santiago Abascal, and Matteo Salvini. Mainstream Portuguese parties, including Prime Minister Luís Montenegro's government, have imposed a cordon sanitaire, refusing coalition with Chega despite its parliamentary strength.
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Other news coverage of this topic
- Failure of the labour package "will clearly be a defeat for the Government" • cnnportugal.iol.pt
- There are signs that the labour package may not even go to a vote • cnnportugal.iol.pt
- Labour package should go to a vote so the Government can show it wants to reform, but the opposition won't allow it • cnnportugal.iol.pt
- Labour reform must, in the final instance, be analysed and negotiated in Parliament • cnnportugal.iol.pt
- May 1st • cmjornal.pt
- If labour reform were voted on now, Chega guarantees it would vote against it • cnnportugal.iol.pt
- Opposition out in force on May Day against labour law reform • rtp.pt
- “This May 1st is the most important of the last decade” • publico.pt
- Photographs of the May 1st demonstration in Lisbon • observador.pt
- If labour reform were voted on now, Chega would be against it, says André Ventura • rtp.pt
- If labour reform were voted on now, Chega would be against it, says André Ventura • rtp.pt
- Ventura says that if the labour reform were voted on now, Chega would be against it • cmjornal.pt
- With workers on the streets and a strike looming, even the President of the Republic joined 'the fight': the labour package's days are numbered • expresso.pt
- Portugal May Day • The Herald Journal








