The PS considered today that, with the resignation of the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, the case of Alexandra Reis is “totally closed” from the political point of view, praising the “seven years of work” of Pedro Nuno Santos in the Government.
In declarations to the Lusa news agency, the socialist deputy Hugo Costa, coordinator of deputies of the PS in the Commission of Economy, Public Works, Planning and Housing, considered that “it was in strict compliance with the republican ethics that the minister Pedro Nuno Santos presented his resignation”.
“From the moment the Minister himself learned that the Secretary of State for Infrastructures [Hugo Santos Mendes] He was aware of the compensation, he submitted his resignation,” he stressed.
Hugo Costa thanked “the seven years of work of former Minister Pedro Nuno Santos, both as Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs and as Minister of Infrastructure and Housing”, and noted that the official led “issues such as the railway and housing, where he made some of the most important policies of the last decades on both issues”.
Asked if, with the resignation of Pedro Nuno Santos, the PS considers that the Alexandra Reis case is closed, the Socialist deputy replied that “politically the case is completely closed.”
“On the part of the parliamentary group of the PS, the matter is completely, from the political point of view, clarified and resolved,” he reinforced.
Regarding the motion of censure against the Government presented by Iniciativa Liberal and the request for an urgent debate with the President of the Government requested by the PSD, Hugo Costa has affirmed that he sees the two initiatives with “naturalness” and has stressed that they are “natural instruments in democracy”.
“Right at the beginning of the legislature, Chega presented a motion of censure. Now, the Liberal Initiative, trying to overtake the entire right, also announces the presentation of a motion of censure. I react naturally to these debates, being part of the parliamentary scrutiny, of the parliamentary dynamic itself, ”he stressed.
However, Hugo Costa considered the call made by João Cotrim de Figueiredo “totally inappropriate” for the PS deputies to vote on the motion of no confidence presented by IL, assuring that it will be “rejected by the parliamentary majority of the PS: 120 deputies”.
“By presenting this motion of censure, the IL already knows what the result will be, and it presents it only because it wants to mark political space also in the parliamentary right,” he defended.
Asked if, given that there were 10 resignations of members of the Government in nine months of mandate, he considers that the Executive is worn out, as accused by the opposition, Hugo Costa stressed that “naturally these are issues that pose natural difficulties, but that can continue to be overcome ”.
“These are issues that must be seen with a certain naturalness, that must be resolved and a solution must be found, naturally, to the problems,” he said.
The PS deputy stressed that the Government has found responses to inflation and the “challenges of the Portuguese, and that is what it must continue to do for the next four years.”
Asked if, with the departure of Pedro Nuno Santos from the Government, he fears that there will be greater instability within the PS, since the former minister is seen as one of the possible successors of António Costa, Hugo Costa replied “no”.
“The succession is not a debate that is on the table. There are four years left in the government, there is still a long way to go and a lot of political work for this government and it is not something “that is on the table,” he guaranteed.
The Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Pedro Nuno Santos, resigned on Wednesday night to “assume political responsibility” for the case of compensation of 500,000 euros from TAP to the former Secretary of State for Finance.
This has been the third resignation of the Government in two days, after Alexandra Reis, from the Treasury portfolio, at the center of the controversy over compensation, and the Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Hugo Santos Mendes, who followed Pedro’s decision Nuno Santos. .
Source: Observadora
