The Liberal Initiative called for the resignation of the Minister of Cohesion after the Observer reported that Ana Abrunhosa’s husband received support from community funds from the European Union and a PS deputy asked that the Liberal deputy’s intervention be eliminated. the minutes because the matter is not on the agenda. Meanwhile, the vice president of the PS caucus, Pedro Delgado Alves, has already apologized on behalf of the socialist deputy and admits having changed the law.
The unusual moment of the request to delete the recording occurred in the Public Administration, Territorial Planning and Local Power Commission, where the Minister of Cohesion was being heard, on Wednesday morning, the day after the news was known. . On Twitter, Carlos Guimarães Pinto denounced what happened: “Right now in the hearing of the Minister of Territorial Cohesion, a PS deputy asked that the recording of my intervention on the funds intended for the minister’s husband be deleted. Incredible. Unbelievable in democracy”.
Right now, at the hearing of the Minister of Territorial Cohesion, a member of the PS asked that the recording of my intervention on the funds intended for the minister’s husband be deleted. Incredible. Unbelievable in democracy.
— CGP (@carlosgpinto) September 28, 2022
The Liberal deputy left for later what was related to the commission and went ahead on the subject in question: “Here there was a lot of talk about seriousness and ethics and I find it impossible not to start without mentioning the elephant in the room today.”
Guimarães Pinto even admitted that the situation in question may be “perfectly legal”, as the minister justified to the Observer, but accused the ruler of a “obvious ethical conflict“. “Your husband, legally, can be, but ethically, he cannot be a beneficiary of European funds.”
And, given the facts, Carlos Guimarães Pinto said that the minister had only “two alternatives”: or her husband’s companies”return the funds” received or Ana Abrunhosa must give up of office “The third option is to spend the rest of your term with a ethical stain of your Government”, he defended, also emphasizing that “in this Government you don’t see rags, only stains”.
❗UNACCEPTABLE IN DEMOCRACY
PS deputy Isabel Guerreiro today requested that an intervention by IL deputy Carlos Guimarães Pinto be deleted from the recordings of Parliament and excluded from the minutes of the meeting of the Public Administration, Planning and Local Power Commission.
— Liberal Initiative (@LiberalPT) September 28, 2022
The defense did not come from the minister and it was a PS deputy, Isabel Guerreiro, who not only interrupted Guimarães Pinto’s intervention to question the agenda, but later justified that “you cannot come to allege facts that have nothing to do with what It’s not on the agenda.”
“I can’t speak about the coffee or tea we could have had yesterday afternoon. Am prevented. His Lordship cannot make the intervention that he does, out of context and continue talking as if nothing happened, because it is not on the agenda. I can’t talk about the concert I went to this summer because it’s not on the agenda. And that’s why I think it should be deleted the recording and this part of the record must be withdrawn, it must not be recorded [na ata]”, defended the deputy.
After the intervention of the PS deputy, the Minister of Cohesion limited himself to mentioning “having already answered all the questions” and the hearing continued. However, returning to the topic —when the first news about what happened became known—, Ana Abrunhosa, visibly moved (“I am a crybaby”), asked that no recording in favor of democracy be deleted.
“If it depends on my opinion, nothing i said will be erased, There is no need for this. The deputy expressed his opinion, as I have mine, (…) I think that for everyone’s understanding I ask that nothing be erased, that everything remain, because nobody wins with that. We are in a democracy and it is in a democracy that we debate our ideas and in the end it is with our pillow that we do accounts,” said the minister, guaranteeing that she “respects” the words of the deputy and admitting that it is possible “to understand when criticism is made with friendship or malice”.
Carlos Guimarães Pinto ended up intervening again and praised the “dignity” of the minister’s response, stressing that the funds must be returned so that the minister does not have to resign.
The companies of the husband of the Minister of Cohesion received EU funds. PGR says it is legal, but criticizes “darkness” of the law
Even before Carlos Guimarães Pinto, Chega deputy Bruno Nunes had not left the issue blank either and was convinced that the minister would end up resigning. “This morning I received an SMS saying urgent, with documentation for this committee and I confess that I thought it was his resignation, that this hearing had ended with his resignation, and I think we are here to discuss something and that, after all, Next week we will have to call the new Minister of Cohesion because I think that before eating or after eating she will be fired or she will resign”, she underlined.
PS apologizes for deputy and admits having changed the law
The Socialist Party admits having changed the law, despite having been “revised very recently, in 2019”, and already guarantees that “no political official can intervene in projects that affect their spouse or close relatives.”
Pedro Delgado Alves explained that “the issue of European funds is covered by most of these provisions” of the current law and highlights that the current situation with the minister “is not so much” because of the current position, “but because of functions in which throughout his life he came across issues relating to community funds”.
The PS deputy admitted that “the the law can be improved and improved”, noting that there is “receptivityof the party to “proposals that deepen and ensure in a transparent and clear way that the legislation is good”.
Mariana Mortágua, shortly before, had mentioned that “the prosecutor says that it is legal, but that the law must be changed”, opening the door to two situations: “There is a ethical issue that the government and the minister have to answer, and It is up to Parliament to amend this law. complying with the indication of the prosecutor about a possible conflict of interest between the minister who has responsibility for community funds and close family relations who can access these funds.”
The deputy of the Bloco de Esquerda described the situation as “serious”, but stressed that she is convinced that “the PS does not follow these statements and will have the opportunity to retract”.
This was confirmed by Rodrigo Saraiva, leader of the IL bench, when referring to the socialist deputy, representing the PS, “He apologized for the event to deputy Carlos Guimarães Pinto, IL, the commission and the Assembly of the Republic”.
“We consider that the matter is resolved, clarified and we positively register this recognition by the PS of a bad practice and bad attitude of a deputy,” said the Liberal deputy, reiterating that Isabel Guerreiro’s attitude is “unacceptableand that Augusto Santos Silva will confirm that there is no intention for there to be any “deletion of minutes”.
Pedro Delgado Alves was clear and quick in regretting the deputy’s conduct: “The PS apologizes to the parliamentary institution, to the Liberal Initiative in particular and to the rest of the parties that were present in the commission [de Poder Local] for the unfortunate way in which the PS deputy [Isabel Guerreiro] had requested the elimination of elements of the minutes and recording of the meeting held.”
However, Rodrigo Saraiva did not fail to highlight that IL is concerned that this could be a sign of socialist governance: “When a PS deputy feels comfortable with that attitude, it is a symptom of what is the practice of how the El PS governs and manages public affairs. The episode should serve the PS to reflect on its practice, which allows its deputies to think that they own everything”.
PSD accuses the PS of showing the “weight of the steamroller”
The PSD, through the voice of Luís Gomes, reacted to the PS’s request to erase the IL statements, lamented and harshly criticized the intervention of deputy Isabel Guerreiro, saying that Parliament was facing the “weight of the PS’s steamroller “. “I wanted to erase deputies’ statements and we learned what it meant to return the blue pencil to democracy and the Portuguese political system,” praised the Social Democrat.
Luís Gomes also stressed that this is proof that there is “lack of respect for the rules of the Assembly of the Republic” and that “the Government wants everything to be able to carry out its ideas.”
Source: Observadora
