“We think the law is clear and allows the operation. If there is any aspect that it is understood needs to be clarified to end this cloud once and for all, let it be clarified. I don’t see how it will be better clarified, but if there is a good solution, we will be here,” Paulo Raimundo considered.
The communist leader spoke to journalists on the sidelines of the act of solidarity “Together for Cuba”, endorsed by various associations, movements, trade unions and by the PCP, at the Association of Instruction and Benevolence ‘A Voz do Operário’, in Lisbon.
Paulo Raimundo was questioned on whether it was necessary to change the legislation governing party funding and on the proposal of the PS to present a standard in parliament to “clarify clearly and completely” that an integrated and shared management of resources between parties is possible politicians and parliamentary groups.
“The law that is in place is clear, and in fact so clear that it has made it possible to work for all parties all these years, so I don’t see any fog. So that they get clarity soon, because enforcing this fog and this pressure is not positive either for the parties, much less for democracy,” the PCP’s secretary-general defended.
Paulo Raimundo stressed that “the law in force allows funding in two ways: through direct government funding to the parties and through the operation of parliamentary groups for the activities of the party and the Assembly, so it is clear”.
Still, he noted, the party is open to any changes.
Raimundo also referred that the PCP has proposed several times, with regard to the Party Finance Act, to reduce public support for parties and increase its own revenue, adding that 90% of the PCP’s revenue comes from its own revenue .
In a reply to Lusa, the PCP had already defended that “the law is clear and leaves no room for doubt”, since “by law, parliamentary groups have included an amount in the budget of the Assembly of the Republic, proportional to their size, to employ destined personnel, in the various fields and valencies required for parliamentary work”.
The PCP defended that the “nature of the functions, the type of work and their duration is the responsibility of each parliamentary group, translating its needs, its objectives, its organizational form, its criteria and its objectives, should not exceed the amount allocated to it “.
On Wednesday, the Justice Police (PJ) mobilized some 100 inspectors and computer and financial experts for a series of 20 house searches, including the home of former PSD chairman Rui Rio and the party’s national headquarters.
CNN reported these searches firsthand, at around 10:30 a.m., with teams living outside Rui Rio’s residence, in Porto, and next to the PSD’s national headquarters in Lisbon, citing that they took place because of “suspicions of crimes of embezzlement and abuse”. in force”.
According to CNN, it involves the use, which is considered inappropriate, of funds for the offices of parliamentary groups with staff working for the party outside parliament.
On Thursday, the PSD, through its Secretary General, Hugo Soares, wrote a letter to the Attorney General of the Republic, Lucília Gago, protesting the searches she targeted, qualifying them as “deeply disproportionate”.
Source: DN
