The president of the Liberal Initiative, Rui Rocha, on Monday defended the resignation of Bank of Portugal Governor Mário Centeno, believing that the prime minister cannot remain in office until March and calling for the elections to be brought forward.
“Mário Centeno has only one way forward at this point, which is to give up his role as governor of the Bank of Portugal”he declared in a conversation with journalists in parliament.
Rui Rocha defended the governor’s “irresponsible statements” to the newspaper Financial times demonstrate that they are “unable to continue their role”.
‘What Mário Centeno did is very serious in two respects: first, to try to drag the President of the Republic into a version of the facts that Mário Centeno himself later came to deny, and second, because the simple fact of admitting the possibility of joining a government in this situation questions his independence in his role as Governor of the Bank of Portugal”he insisted.
The IL leader also opined that the Prime Minister “does not have the conditions to complete his term with dignity.”
‘There is no way António Costa will remain in office until March’he noted, considering that “The election timetable is too long”.
“We cannot continue with this situation, which in the eyes of the Portuguese is a real quagmire of degradation of institutions”he emphasized, leaving a challenge to the President of the Republic: “which puts forward this calendar and which takes a clear position on the continuation of António Costa”.
According to him, the early parliamentary elections scheduled for March 10 could take place in February, “sooner rather than later”.
“The Portuguese do not deserve to see the degradation of institutions practically hour by hour, moment by moment, and with episodes added on top of episodes that would be deplorable in themselves”criticized.
Considering that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa ‘There is still time to resolve this situation’Rui Rocha commented “What is happening shows that the country cannot be in the hands of António Costa for another five months”.
The IL president accused the prime minister of trying to “interfere in the path of justice” and asked questions “How can a government continue under these circumstances” in terms of functions.
The Governor of the Bank of Portugal is appointed by decision of the Council of Ministers, on a proposal from the Member of Government responsible for Finance, and after obtaining the opinion of the Assembly of the Republic.
Speaking to the Financial Times newspaper on Sunday, the governor of the Bank of Portugal stated that he had “received an invitation from the President and the Prime Minister to reflect and consider the possibility of leading the government” and that he was “far from of a decision”.
Shortly afterwards, the President of the Republic, in a note published on the Internet in the early hours of this Monday on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic, denied that he had invited anyone to head the government, including the Governor of the Bank of Portugal Mário Centeno, or a contact person for this purpose, is authorized.
This Monday morning, Mário Centeno clarified in a statement that he had not been invited by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa to head the government.
“It is unequivocal that the President of the Republic did not invite me to head the government” as he chose to dissolve the Assembly of the Republic, the governor said.
In the statement published this Monday on the website of the banking regulator, the governor clarifies that after the events caused by the resignation of the Prime Minister, António Costa, on Tuesday “he” invited him “to reflect on the conditions that could enable him to assume the role of Prime Minister”.
“The invitation to this reflection arose from the conversations that the Prime Minister had with the President of the Republic,” he said, indicating that “there was never an acceptance of the position, but only an agreement to continue the reflection and to conclude in accordance with the decision that the President of the Republic would take”.
Source: DN
