The opposition questioned the Prime Minister, António Costa, in parliament this Thursday about his stopover in Budapest, where he watched the Europa League football final, with some criticism, but the president did not respond.
During the preparatory debate before the European Council, in the Assembly of the Republic, the Social Democrat Miguel Santos was the first to question António Costa about the stopover in Budapest, Hungary, and criticized the fact that the trip was not included in the official statement from the Prime Minister. agenda and accuse the ruler of a “progressive ‘lenga-lenga’ to explain events”.
“You choose the friends you want, Mr. André Ventura is also a friend of Viktor Orbán [primeiro-ministro húngaro]”They must be the only ones in this amphitheatre,” said the PSD deputy.
Miguel Santos claimed that the Prime Minister “doesn’t give a point without a knot” and accused Costa of “light explanation” on the subject, asking “What is the Prime Minister producing in European terms with Viktor Orbán?”.
Deputy Diogo Pacheco de Amorim, from Chega, only alluded to Costa’s trip to Budapest, but liberal Bernardo Blanco then backtracked on criticism, pressing why the meeting was not on the CEO’s official agenda, wondering if Costa would. pay for the flight.
BE and PAN regret that António Costa watched the Europa League football final with Viktor Orbán, noting that the Prime Minister has “heavily criticized the far right” in Portugal.
“It is curious that the prime minister in Portugal has been very critical of the extreme right. Together with the PS, he has promoted red lines that are insurmountable, but then we will see and there will be an end to a match.” of football and the Prime Minister sits next to Viktor Órban,” said BE parliamentary leader Pedro Filipe Soares, adding that for the blockers “it’s irrelevant whether it was by Falcon or by swimming”.
Apart from the opposition’s criticism, PS deputy João Paulo Rebelo spoke about the conflict in Ukraine, responding to those who claim that the EU “does not promote peace, because at the moment it contributes with help to perpetuate of a war”. The parliamentarian argued that “the way to peace” is to demand the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory and the “end of aggression against a sovereign country”.
The socialist also left a compliment to the prime minister, causing a bit of ‘buzz’ from the opposition: “The prime minister is a respected, considered and heard voice in the European Union and that’s what we hope you will do in the next Council”.
In addition to the scale controversy in Budapest, opposition delegates addressed other issues, with PSD, PCP, BE, PAN and Livre expressing concern over the migration crisis in Europe following the recent shipwreck off the coast of Greece, which resulted in the death of an indefinite number of people.
PSD and Iniciativa Liberal questioned the Prime Minister about relations between Portugal and China and deputy Bruno Nunes, from Chega, spoke about the European agreement reached in early June on new asylum rules and said that Chega is “seriously considering filing a complaint with the European court” . against the government “for the way it does not respect the rules of the Schengen area”.
PCP parliamentary leader Paula Santos questioned the prime minister about the European Commission’s recommendations for the European Semester – “a euphemism used to impose neoliberal European Union policies and directives that run counter to the national interest “, among them “to scrap energy support measures in force until the end of 2023 and channel the corresponding savings to reduce the deficit”, warning that this could lead to more expensive energy for households and businesses.
The next European Council will take place on 29 and 30 June in Brussels.
The prime minister said in a statement released Monday from his office that he attended the Europa League football final in Budapest on the 31st at the invitation of UEFA and sat next to his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orbán. , by protocol treatment.
On May 31, António Costa, traveling in an Air Force Falcon 50, made a stopover in Budapest on his way to Moldova for the European Political Community Summit, with the stop not appearing on his public agenda, as reported by the Observer. .
According to the same newspaper, the head of the Portuguese government, together with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, attended the Europa League football final match between Sevilla and Roma, the Italian team led by José Mourinho.
Source: DN
