Augusto Santos Silva completes this Wednesday 100 days in office as President of the Assembly of the Republic for which he was elected by the deputies on March 29, succeeding the also socialist Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues.
In statements to the Lusa agency, this Tuesday, the president of the parliament took stock of the first 100 days of his mandate, defending his independence in the exercise of his position and emphasizing that he is neither a counterweight nor an echo of the absolute majority of the PS, refusing even to have ever favored the socialist caucus.
“I am not the counterpower of the absolute majority of the PS, nor am I the echo of the absolute majority of the PS. I am the President of all the deputies, who exercises his position with the necessary independence. In my inaugural address, I promised a cohesive, unbiased, unbiased presidency, and that is what I have sought to do,” he maintained.
PS deputy elected by the Out of Europe circle in the last legislative elections, the former Minister of State and Foreign Affairs stressed that his role “is to treat all deputies equally”.
“Each deputy and each deputy who is in the Assembly of the Republic is because the people elected him and he has the same rights. So, depending on the electoral results, therefore, depending on the elections of the electorate, there are larger parliamentary groups and smaller parliamentary groups, and there is a certain party composition of parliament, which in this legislature results in an absolute majority of one only party.” she observed.
Then, referring to the PS, he added: “This party has all the conditions to execute its program and has no excuse for not executing it before the Assembly of the Republic.”
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Augusto Santos Silva considered that everything he did derived from what was announced in his investiture speech one hundred days ago.
“In the first place, the idea that parliament is the house of the word and that all words are admissible in parliament, except speeches that incite hatred and violence against minorities, against anyone, which are an attack on human dignity”, said.
Secondly, its objective was to “appreciate the fact that for the first time the parliament has as president a deputy elected by a circle of emigration – and that means a new centrality of the relationship with the communities in the Portuguese parliament”.
“On the other hand, as parliament is the home of plurality and diversity, not only territorial, but also political and ideological, we must cultivate cordiality in our relationship with othersso that political, ideological and territorial diversity prevails and not just minor cases, or expressions that are too rude or offensive,” he stressed.
For Augusto Santos Silva, among his main challenges for this legislature, which will only end in October 2026, is the objective of “consolidate the Portuguese parliament as the house of democracy”.
“There is a certain temptation to see in parliament more aspects that deserve criticism than aspects that deserve applause, but I understand that one of my functions is to draw attention to the many aspects in which the Portuguese parliament deserves applause compared to its counterparts in Europe and other continents”, he pointed out.
According to the former Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, “the level of animosity in the political debate in Portugal is unmatched by the level found in other democracies.”
“Our level of animosity is very low, if not non-existent,” he added.
On the other hand, the president of the RA assumed that he is “attentive” and “curious” about the results of the process of reviewing the Parliament’s Regulations and defended that there is already a “panoply” of instruments for the prime minister to be responsible for.
Santos Silva “attentive” and “curious” about the future revision of the Regulations of Parliament
“I note that according to our parliamentary system, the prime minister already appears many times in the Assembly of the Republic: in general policy debates, which are held every two months; in the discussion of the State Budget; in the European debates, which must be held in plenary before any European Council; in the debates of motions of censure; and in the debate on the State of the Nation”, he pointed out.
The former minister pointed out that “in the previous legislature, “at the proposal of the largest opposition party, the PSD, the cadence of the debates with the Prime Minister was changed.”
“I am curious to know what proposals will be presented and agreed upon in the working group. Government oversight is one of the most important tasks of parliament and it is carried out in different complementary ways, such as hearings with ministers in parliamentary committees or sectoral, urgent or thematic debates. There is a range of regimental figures that favor the scrutiny and control of government acts”, he stressed.
Source: Observadora
