Left Bloc leader Catarina Martins has called for a Referendum on Portugal's continued EU membership if the European Commission continues its path to impose sanctions for the government's 2015 failure to hit budgetary targets.
If the government does not "take a stand against blackmail" from the European Commission, Martins called on Prime Minister António Costa to authorise a national Referendum to see if the nation wants to continue as part of the European Union.
"If the UK wants to leave, then leave. Other countries may decide in a Referendum what to do with the European Union" said the bloquista leader at a conference in Lisbon.
For Portugal, Martins said, “the day will come when we decide. We will never shelve our democratic rights and the day will come to decide and it will come soon."
Martins was highly critical of the French President François Hollande, the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Pierre Moscovici, and the President of the Eurogroup, Jeroen Dijsselbloem and she consider that the current European set up "is a race to the bottom" and a "huge and very sad lie."
