On Thursday, parliament broadly approved a PS diploma to ensure that time spent in government positions counts towards pension calculations, with several parties defending the importance of ensuring the attractiveness of political positions.
This diploma was approved with the positive votes of PS, PSD, PCP, BE and Livre, IL abstained and Chega voted against. The only PAN delegate, Inês de Sousa Real, did not vote.
The PS bill, which was initially a government bill, reinstates a 1979 decree, repealed in 2018 in the framework of Simplex, which “provides guarantees regarding the resumption of professional duties” by anyone who is called upon to perform government functions.
In practice, the decree in question guaranteed that time spent in government offices or positions would be counted towards retirement and provided that “members of the government cannot be harmed in their placement or permanent employment, nor in the social benefits which they previously enjoyed.” received while performing their respective functions”.
In the debate preceding the vote, PS deputy Pedro Delgado Alves said that the renewal of this decree aims to ensure compliance with the Constitution, which is “unequivocal on the fact that no one should suffer harm through the exercise of public functions” .
“We have a legal regime that (…) no longer expressly enshrines this protection in law and there is currently doubt as to whether or not time spent in public functions should be counted as time of service,” he explained out. that the diploma aims to “resolve this interpretive doubt”.
On the part of the PSD, Sara Madruga da Costa considered that the repeal of the 1979 decree, through Simplex, was “one of the many mistakes” of António Costa’s governments, and “the height of negligence and incompetence”.
“The PS said this is about restoring a right subject to constitutional protection. It is undoubtedly the same right that will determine our voting direction, but this circumstance does not remove the mess that the government has incurred because of its sole and exclusive responsibility,” criticized.
In turn, the parliamentary leader of Chega, Pedro Pinto, believed that the PS and the government are only concerned “about the pensions of politicians” and presented a proposal from his party to prevent government officials from serving for a period of five years after leaving office. at companies in sectors they previously supervised.
“It means that it would not have happened, for example, that Mário Centeno would move directly from Minister of Finance to Governor of the Bank of Portugal in 2020,” explains Pedro Pinto. This proposal was subsequently rejected overall, with PS, PSD and Livre voting against, PCP abstaining and Chega, IL and BE voting in favour.
For IL, deputy João Cotrim de Figueiredo believed that the PS diploma is not “only about constitutional rights”, but also about creating conditions to “attract good people to politics”.
“The increase, through legislation, of restrictions and incompatibilities for the exercise of public functions not only keeps good people away, but also attracts bad people,” he said, pledging to try to improve the diploma in the specialty.
PCP parliamentary leader Paula Santos said her party is opposed in principle to the existence of special regimes targeting holders of political positions, but recalled that the Constitution stipulates that no one can be harmed because he or she has been in politics. and that the PS diploma received the support of the National Anti-Corruption Mechanism.
“Despite all this, the PCP will not oppose this initiative,” he said.
Livre’s sole deputy, Rui Tavares, called for “apart from the television commentary or the coffee conversation” discussing the importance of revaluing political activities, that effective measures must be taken to respect them and “there must be conditions to set to do and do. Good”.
Source: DN
