The PSD said this Wednesday that it will vote for Chega and IL’s proposals to set up a committee of inquiry into the implementation of the ‘secrets’, but announced that it “will not and has not taken any initiative in this regard “. .
The proposals of Chega and IL will be voted on on Friday, but the ‘lead’ is guaranteed by the absolute majority of the PS against. Until today, the PSD had not ruled out a potestative (compulsory) inquiry, which would require the signature of at least 46 deputies, as it is the only opposition party capable of doing so.
“The PSD will not and has not taken the initiative to propose a parliamentary committee of inquiry, but the PSD cannot and will not endorse the behavior of the government. Therefore, although it is not our option (… ), if we don’t, we will vote against these initiatives and vote for them”announced PSD deputy Mónica Quintela in the parliamentary debate.
The deputy emphasized that in this way it will not be due to the PSD vote that “rules out the possibility of using this parliamentary investigative tool”, initiatives that will also have the support of the BE and that the PAN promised not to make unfeasible .
Without a positive initiative, however, there will be no parliamentary committee of inquiry into the implementation of the ‘secret’ in the recovery of a computer belonging to the Ministry of Infrastructure.
Mónica Quintela repeated last week’s warning from the President of the PSD, Luís Montenegro, that the leadership and oversight of the Information System of the Republic (SIRP) will no longer have “the coverage” of the PSD, as “neither words nor are the documents sent by the prime minister illuminating”.
For the PS, bank vice-chairman Pedro Delgado Alves justified the vote against by considering that a parliamentary committee of inquiry would be “particularly inadequate” as it could jeopardize the protection of the functioning of the services, recalling that information had been leaked even during the regimental hearings of those responsible for SIRP and SIS.
The socialist recalled that the SIRP supervisory board will still be heard in parliament and even admitted that “the conclusion that there were failures” in the implementation of the services could be drawn, considering on the contrary that “the tape of time ” shows the correction of internal procedures in the government.
“You can’t underestimate the seriousness when you come to the conclusion that there were, presumably, functions that the services were performing that they should not have been performing,” he said, but given that this doesn’t mean “that all services are malfunctioning or are bound by political power”.
“But above all you don’t correct a mistake with another mistake,” he said, saying that the PS will be available for the discussion, if the parties understand that they need to review the legislation on the supervision of “secrets”, although they remember that it has already been changed four times in the last twenty years.
On the side of the proponents, Chega chairman André Ventura defended that the parliamentary commission of inquiry is “not asked for inspection or legislative issues, but for abuse of a member of the government” of the information services.
“Don’t start talking to us, the PS wants to protect Minister João Galamba, the Prime Minister, not the ‘secret’,” Ventura criticized, saying that if this investigation is undesirable “it was the government’s insistence to lie and to cheat.” which led Chega to suggest it.
For IL, parliamentary leader Rodrigo Saraiva also admitted that a parliamentary inquiry into intelligence services would be “particularly sensitive and complex”.
“But in this hemisphere, 230 Portuguese have been elected to legislate, but above all to see to it that the rights, freedoms and guarantees of citizens are guaranteed by the legal framework, whatever the time of day,” he said, given that there are questions and discrepancies. to clarify “without any semantic loophole”.
For BE, MEP Isabel Pires reiterated that “there was no legal basis” for the actions of the SIS on the night of April 26, when a SIS element recovered former MEP Frederico Pinheiro’s computer, and stressed that this body “does not exercise any police functions “. .
“We will follow initiatives seeking full clarification on this matter. If the PS had wanted to avoid this outcome, the only thing it could have done was to clarify the country and parliament,” he said.
PCP deputy Alma Rivera agreed with the assessment of the “illegitimateness of the actions of the SIS” in this case, but without announcing the vote, she separated herself from the Chega and IL initiatives.
“The logical consequence, more adequate and more useful, is to change the form of supervision of the ‘secrets’ directly from the Assembly of the Republic, as other parliaments do,” he said, recalling that the party has already presented a project law in that sense.
For the PAN, the sole deputy Inês Sousa Real will not derail the Chega and IL proposals, although she believes that there could be a doubling of powers, as the Attorney General’s Office has also announced that it will to research.
Livre’s sole deputy, Rui Tavares, drew a distinction between Chega’s initiative, which he considered “politically oriented”, and that of IL, although he questioned whether this party would make efforts to ensure that all political forces were represented, contrary to what happened in the TAP study. , without PAN and Livre.
Source: DN
