The Government reacted minimally to the controversial hiring of the former information director of TVI as an adviser to the Ministry of Finance. The answer was limited to only two specific questions, guaranteeing that, if the Court of Auditors considers it appropriate, it can supervise the contract in question and that the work of the Center for Planning, Policies and Foresight of the Public Administration does not overlap with the functions for which Sérgio Figueiredo has now been hired.
The Secretary of State for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers was requested, in the instructions this Thursday after the meeting of ministers, on the work of evaluating public policies already carried out by the body that works under the tutelage of his Ministry. In his response, André Moz Caldas says that this Center “has been implemented, is working, deals with issues of strategic planning, prospective and evaluation of public policies in general, in the context of management, particularly with regard to the development of of great document strategies, what the main options are like or what the national reform program for the European Semester is like”.
He delved into the detail of the body’s functions, which includes a diagnosis similar to the one that Sérgio Figueiredo will assume in Finance, and then concludes that “it does not exhaust the possibility of having activity in these domains, at the sector level.” level, in each one of them”. of the government areas, so the activities of this service and of the sectoral representatives in this matter, or collaborators of the different government areas in the same areas do not necessarily overlap” .
Almost all the questions that came from the journalists addressed the issue that is burning the Government in this second week of August, namely, the Minister of Finance, but the Secretary of State only responded to the most specific, refusing any generic comment on the Medina’s decision. He guaranteed, for example, that “obviously all the powers of the Court of Auditors and other control bodies” of public contracts are preserved.
“In the case of the Court of Accounts, within the scope of the concomitant and successive inspection, which may be exercised on a permanent basis on this and any contract entered into by the ministerial offices, or entities of the public administration. Therefore, these powers are fully preserved,” he explained, adding even later and to another insistence from the media, that “whether or not the Government will take the initiative in this matter is a question that has not been raised.” sufficiently considered yet, and that corresponds to the collegiate dimension of the collegiate action of the Government and, therefore, it is not up to me to answer it”.
The door seemed to have been left open to the hypothesis, but the Secretary of State immediately assured that the analysis of the Court of Auditors “is not done at the behest” and that “it is extemporaneous” to raise this matter, affirming that the TdC to act “freely interference from anyone”.
For the rest, Moz Caldas faked requests for comments on the specific contract that was developed this Wednesday, after the Ministry of Finance made public the contract for the provision of services with Sérgio Figueiredo.
Sérgio Figueiredo’s base salary will be higher than Medina’s. And there is no exclusivity
Source: Observadora
