Chega’s bill to regulate ‘lobbying’ was rejected on Thursday, with the remaining political forces accusing the party of copying a text agreed between PS, CDS-PP and PAN in the previous parliamentary term.
The bill was rejected with the votes against by PS, PCP and BE, the abstention of PSD, PAN and Livre and the vote in favor of Chega and IL, at the end of a debate planned by Chega on the transparency rules to be applied to private entities that lobbying public entities, providing for the establishment of a register of transparency of the representation of interests before parliament.
At the end of the debate, Chega’s leader responded to the pre-electoral coalition between PSD and CDS-PP for the next parliamentary and European elections, which was known while the debate was taking place.
André Ventura stated that ‘PS knows very well that its main opponent is Chega’ Why “in the past eight years the PSD forgot to resist”which means it must now form a coalition with the CDS-PP.
During the debate, Chega was accused several times of plagiarism and copying an initiative that was not voted on at the end of the previous parliamentary term.
According to Socialist deputy Francisco Oliveira, Chega needed the PS “to plagiarize a legislative initiative”, criticizing “the zigzag” of the PSD’s position on the issue.
PS deputy Pedro Delgado Alves also announced the planning of a parliamentary debate on January 3 on this regulation, showing openness to discuss proposals from the other parties.
For the PSD, Emília Cerqueira recalled that the Social Democratic leader was committed to an initiative to regulate ‘lobbying’ and also to a new attempt to introduce the criminalization of illegal enrichment in the next legislature.
‘The PS is really responsible for us having this debate today’he said, referring to the recent cases involving the government, also accusing Chega of “a coup”.
At the opening of the debate, Chega deputy Rui Paulo Sousa argued that this is so “It is essential to implement a model for regulating the representation of legitimate interests within the direct and indirect administration of the State that brings together Portuguese public administrative entities that make structuring decisions for the life of the country”.
According to Chega it is necessary “create a registration system for representatives of legitimate interests that is public, free and optional”.
The IL parliamentary leader opined that “the regulation of ‘lobbying’ is a necessary, important step, and it is long overdue,” insisting that this regulation should not “It will legalize activities that would previously have been considered illegal” because “influence is not ‘lobbying’”.
Rodrigo Saraiva pointed out that access to public decision-makers must be “democratized”, transparent and “recorded and leave a footprint” and stated that “the representation of interests, which is legitimate, should not be a monopoly or oligopoly”.
Duarte Alves of the PCP believed that the legalization of ‘lobbying’ is a pass “a sponge on what promotes promiscuity situations” It is “Restrict the rights of democratic participation in public life”with the aim of “to start a company”.
The communist delegate stated that “what we are ultimately doing is legalizing influence peddling,” and emphasized that “all opinions, all hearings, even meetings of parliamentary groups with entities requesting a hearing, are published on the website of the Assembly of the Republic so that everyone can see them”.
For BE, Pedro Filipe Soares believed that in this debate, Parliament “discusses how to legalize the activities of facilitators”.
“He didn’t let anyone drag anything, that’s how proud he is of opening the corridors of power to enablers”he accused, also pointing the finger at the PS for announcing a debate for January 3 for more ‘Go after Chega’s carrot”.
Livre’s sole deputy, Rui Tavares, believed that the “Regulating the relationship between political powers and social interests cannot be a way to transfer what is in the criminal code into the IRS code”.
Inês Sousa Real of PAN, which also has a project in this area but was not discussed on Thursday, expressed openness to a dialogue with the other parties to find the best solution, pointing out that the text agreed in the previous legislature achieved is outdated.
Source: DN
