I don’t think there has been any weakening of Minister Gomes Cravinho’s image at international level. I believe this has been a Portuguese-Portuguese issue,” former UN Ambassador Francisco Seixas da Costa told DN, “using a pleonasm” to comment on the political state of the current Foreign Minister, the target of the fragments of successive controversies. involving figures who orbited his former ministry when he was in charge of the defense portfolio.
In the latest revelation related to the ‘Perfect Storm’ operation, it was reported a week ago by EmphaticOne of the defendants, the director of financial management at the Directorate General of National Defense Resources, Paulo Branco, pointed the finger at João Gomes Cravinho. According to Paulo Branco, questioned in the context of the investigation into various allegations of corruption, money laundering and embezzlement in the Ministry of Defense, which already has more than seven dozen defendants, Gomes Cravinho would be involved in the case of the consultancy contract to worth about 50,000 euros signed with former Foreign Minister Marco Capitão Ferreira, who is also accused of the operation and has therefore left the government.
In response to this news, voices from different parties once again rose up against João Gomes Cravinho and the government. Despite no legal proceedings involving the foreign minister, the PSD challenged Prime Minister António Costa to assess the government official’s fitness to remain in office. Chega’s leader, André Ventura, also suggested that Gomes Cravinho and the current Defense Minister, Helena Carreiras, return to parliament to clear doubts at the ministry. move forward with a commission of inquiry”.
“Imply Politicians”
Already within his party, Cravinho was supported by the parliamentary group. “It bothers me that people do not read the entire news item that appeared in a weekly magazine on Friday. The news states in black and white that the personality in question, the suspect in this case, is a… […] which was heard while other defendants were putting together a strategy to involve politicians,” reflected the leader of the Socialist Bank, Eurico Brilhante Dias. With a similar view, even the head of the government commented on the topic during an interview to TVI/CNN “Let us not be intoxicated by selective leaks of information, especially if later there are wiretaps that we realize were recorded, or at least the newspapers say it was recorded, because I don’t know the wiretaps. All I know is what I read in the newspapers: that a defendant says: let’s get the politicians involved so we can control this story. I read this in a newspaper. I don’t know if it’s true or not because I don’t have access to the phone taps,” said António Costa.
Gomes Cravinho himself ultimately did not comment on the weekly news, without much clarification. ‘I strongly and unequivocally reject the suggestion made in the headline Emphatic“, he said.
The weight of foreign policy
The question arises: how important is the Minister of Foreign Affairs and what is at stake for Portugal if the protagonist of the position is surrounded by controversies? “It is one of the most important portfolios of the government, it is the fundamental bridge that is built between Portugal and abroad. In terms of international relations, and knowing that we are talking about a democratic state, it is essential that there is a Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Foreign Affairs that is strong, that has an image of credibility, both internally and externally, and it is a position that is highly dependent on institutional support, which must come from the Prime Minister, but also from the recognition of his colleagues, the government, and also from their colleagues a external level,” Paula do Espírito Santo, professor and researcher in political science at ISCSP/University of Lisbon, explains to DN. “Perhaps it is one of the most important portfolios in terms of national cohesion and also in Portugal’s relationship with the outside world, because we do not live alone and we cannot consider ourselves a regime like a pariah state,” he adds.
The idea is complemented by PSD deputy Tiago Moreira de Sá, who coordinates the social democratic group in the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Portuguese Communities. ‘In the specific case of Foreign Affairs, they are an absolutely crucial sovereign function. I often quote that expression from John F. Kennedy where he said that domestic policy can only defeat us as long as foreign policy can kill us.” says the deputy, clarifying that at the Foreign Office we are dealing with “issues that, in extreme cases, could lead to peace and war.” This is where, from the Social Democrat’s perspective, corrections to Cravinho’s tutelage are in order. “We cannot have that, but in a sense we have half a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and half a Minister of Foreign Affairs,” he said, recalling that the European Affairs portfolio is in the hands of the Prime Minister. “The idea may even have some advantages, because it concerns more and more issues that affect more and more ministries at the same time, but in practice it significantly fragments the functions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” Moreira de Sá criticizes. The deputy pointed out that it is “a bit strange” that European issues have been left out of Foreign Affairs, while the so-called “European option” is “the priority of Portuguese foreign policy”. It is here that he again refers to the “size of half a ministry” of Foreign Affairs adopted by the government, which “is aggravated by the fact that the state budget for Foreign Affairs is unworthy”, as it is very low, “of a function of sovereignty and of the most important function of the country’s sovereignty,” he emphasizes. To the vulnerability of the lack of money for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which unbalances the position of Gomes Cravinho, Tiago Moreira de Sá adds the “very heavy legacy that comes from the Ministry of Defense”.
João Gomes Cravinho’s position as ruler “is in danger, because there is a suspicion that involves him at an indirect level, at least in terms of political responsibility, and that ultimately weakens his situation. Of course we know that there is no absolute nothing. ” against him on a legal level,” analyzes Paulo do Espírito Santo. What can be pointed out to the minister for the time being is only at an internal level and in a ministry that he no longer supervises, “because of the proximity he had, and because he had to agree to certain decisions involving Marco Capitão Ferreira. , in the processes he was developing. Apparently this responsibility can be taken away from him in any case, but with many questions,’ says the political scientist.
What’s happening outside
“In public he doesn’t show any sign of being uncomfortable,” Paula do Espírito Santos said of the ruler. “He carries out all his activities within his current portfolio and it does not appear to me that there is any reflection or any recognition of possible political culpability in this process. But the Prime Minister himself has also said that if he were to do that, he would have created a suspect – he himself has already been accused – that doesn’t mean much, because being accused does not mean he is guilty,” the detective explains.
“If and when there is any action on the part of the justice system, the Prime Minister will draw conclusions. This is at an internal level. At the international level, I don’t think there is any weakening.”, Seixas da Costa continues, before providing a political portrait of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. “He is a person who has had an international status that has been stabilized for many years. Since the time he was ambassador of the European Union, both in India and Brazil. By the way, it is worth remembering that he was already State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. Then, to the surprise of many, he appeared in the Ministry of National Defense. And then he appeared with complete and utter naturalness in the Foreign Office. “, where he is now, in the political area in which he moves, within the Socialist Party and neighboring areas, perhaps one of the most recognized personalities at the national level, in the field of foreign policy. I do not believe that his counterparts in foreign countries that are also concerned about news A or news B. Moreover, nothing so far corresponds to the failure to implement any form of legal action that could affect it,” concludes Seixas da Costa.
A busy schedule
Last Tuesday, João Gomes Cravinho took part in an unprecedented meeting in Kiev with his colleagues from the European Union, to “show total solidarity with the struggle of the Ukrainian people for their sovereignty and territorial integrity,” according to what the ruler published on the website . social network X (formerly Twitter). After the meeting, he also gave an interview to CNN International, still in Ukraine. Before that, he accompanied the President of the Republic to Canada and New York between September 14 and 22, for the UN General Assembly. Then there was a bilateral meeting in Mexico. On September 28 he accompanied António Costa to the Vatican and a day later he was in Malta for the MED9 summit.
Source: DN
