The Prime Minister, António Costa, said this Saturday that he does not devalue corruption, and that he has demonstrated this in his political path “without rhetoric and with action”, accusing critics of constructing “a lie”.
“No! I do not devalue corruption. And I have demonstrated this throughout my political life, without rhetoric and with action,” the CEO writes in an opinion piece in the Observador newspaper entitled “Am I Devaluing Corruption?”.
In this article, Costa replies that he doesn’t devalue corruption, but he doesn’t devalue “the lie” either.
The Prime Minister goes back in time and states that “the major legislative reform” he brought about as Minister of Justice, “the transparency measures” he introduced in municipal management and “the current unprecedented strengthening of the means to combat of Police Corruption Judiciary” are a “full answer” to the title of the article.
“Then why the question? Because all week I have seen the construction of a lie based on the distortion of an answer to a question … which I was not asked,” writes António Costa.
The chief executive refers to a press conference he gave on July 8, before an informal council of ministers, in Sintra, a day after former Secretary of State for National Defense Marco Capitão Ferreira resigned and arguido was made in the ‘Perfect Storm’ operation.
In the article, the prime minister includes a transcript of the dialogue he exchanged with journalists that day and a ‘link’ to the press conference.
“As you can see, no one spoke about corruption. Neither the journalists when they questioned me nor me when I answered them. No, I do not devalue corruption, but I do not lie either,” concludes the prime minister.
On 8 July, before an informal council of ministers in Sintra, the Prime Minister did not comment on the resignation of the Secretary of State for National Defence. is in the concerns of the Portuguese.
“We are going to focus today on what is important for the life of the Portuguese, and without wanting to diminish what is of great concern to commentators and the political space, I think there are very different things that people are concerned about,” he said.
The top man emphasized that he walks the streets and usually talks to the Portuguese, who express their concerns “which have little to do with these matters”, listing topics such as fighting inflation, improving incomes, challenges in the National Service of (SNS) and the “massive transformation of the Portuguese economy”.
“It’s what I think is the fundamental concern that we should focus on, because the government’s function is to govern with people in mind,” he said.
When asked if the government is showing “some wear and tear” after a year and three months, the chief executive replied: “You know that I devote myself little to political analysis and more to doing what I need to do, which is to govern”.
Source: DN
