The PSD accused the PS this Friday of establishing a “quasi-parliamentary dictatorship” and of wanting to “hide, protect” the prime minister for giving explanations about the energy interconnection agreement.
On Tuesday, at a conference of leaders, the PS opposed the holding of an urgent debate, already this week, on the subjectproposed by the Social Democrats who wanted António Costa to be present in plenary, invoking the suspension of these sessions during the current budget year.
Instead, the Socialists announced the request for an extraordinary parliamentary hearing by the Minister of the Environment during the discussion period in the specialty of the State Budget for 2023, already authorized by the President of the Assembly of the Republic, on energy interconnections.
From MidCat to BarMar. The gas pipeline and the 2014 agreement that caused high tension between the PSD and the Government
On Friday, in statements to journalists in parliament, deputy Duarte Pacheco returned to the issue, considering it “paradoxical” that a commission be accepted – which is not usually held during the budget period either – but not a plenary session.
“It is paradoxical that the PS to protect, hide the Prime Ministerbrutely refuse, in the socialist way, if I can and command, the plenary session and be available for the commission meeting with the Minister of the Environment”, he pointed out.
Duarte Pacheco assured that the PSD will not oppose this committee meeting -which has not yet been scheduled- because it wants to clarify “the Portuguese that this is a bad agreement”, but defended António Costa doing it, since he was the one who negotiated the principle agreement with Spain and France.
“It is an example of ‘I want, I can and command’. This house has rules, but there are also ways to act and Unfortunately, the PS’s way of acting is already passing the bar for normal behavior in a democracy.becoming almost a parliamentary dictatorship, which is neither acceptable nor understandable,” he accused.
Portugal “went from horse to donkey” in the agreement with Spain and France for energy interconnection, says Paulo Rangel
Asked about the form of the urgent debates -which do not require the presence of the President of the Government in the plenary session, only that of the Government-, Duarte Pacheco insisted that “it would be more transparent if the President of the Government is available or not”.
“In committee, then the government is never represented by the prime minister,” he justified.
The PSD had requested that the urgent debate be held on Thursday, at the end of the discussion on the Budget in general, accepting that it could be held on Friday, at 3:00 p.m., a proposal that emerged at the meeting of the leaders’ conference. .
According to the summary of this organization, released this Friday, “the indispensable consensus was not obtained for, changing the schedule previously agreed upon at a conference of leaders, to schedule that debate, in opposition to the PS parliamentary group.”
“In addition to the PSD GP, the rest of the GPs agreed to hold the debate, provided that it was held in plenary session, to be held on Friday the 28th,” the text also states.
The Government opposes the PSD and says that the electrical interconnections between Spain and France negotiated in 2014 are maintained
The Social Democrats have harshly criticized the principle of agreement reached between Portugal, Spain and France moving forward with a “green energy corridor”, by sea, between Barcelona and Marseille (BarMar) to the detriment of the previous agreement (MidCat), considering the Social Democrats that the understanding “is bad” and “harms the national interest”. ”.
For his part, Prime Minister António Costa was perplexed by the PSD’s criticism at the beginning of the agreement on European energy interconnections and accused Social Democratic leader Paulo Rangel – who spoke on behalf of the party over the weekend – of theme. subject – to notice something about the subject.
The schedule, funding sources and costs related to the implementation of the green corridor will be discussed in December in Alicante, Spain.
Source: Observadora
