It’s been 15 days since António Costa first spoke about the new review mechanism for new government officials and the subject remains in the news – always and thanks to the President of the Republic. This Thursday, however, a new voice joined Marcelo demanding what the Prime Minister refuses: that the “questionnaire prior to the integration of new members into the governmentalso includes current members of the Executive.
Speaking in parliament through Deputy Miguel Santos, the PSD followed Marcelo’s view, stating that if Costa does not apply the questionnaire to current members of the executive, he will have a problem of a lack of common sense. “The President of the Republic speaks with common sense, he says that the Prime Minister must have common sense and common sense is achieved when the Prime Minister submits all members of the government to the said questionnaire. Minister – in the Qualification of the President of the Republic – without common sense,” accused the Social Democratic MP.
The President of the Republic has defended in recent days that the questionnaire for candidates for governors also applies to those already in office, for “good civic sense”, emphasizing that it covers matters not covered by the declaration of income and power fall.
“This is a debate not worth spending a minute on: knowing whether it applies or not. Obviously it applies. Obviously it applies in the sense that It’s part of good citizenship.”
When asked whether current members of government should also complete the 36-question survey on Wednesday, António Costa replied that it was not necessary. According to the prime minister, the current members of the government have “already fulfilled these obligations” through the declarations of income and assets and “if there is a problem, the Constitutional Court, the Public Prosecutor’s Office or the Assembly of the Republic will take the appropriate measures “.
This Thursday, Marcelo returned to the charge. Asked about the Prime Minister’s position, the President of the Republic replied: “This is a debate not worth spending a minute on: knowing whether it applies or not. It clearly applies. It is clear that it applies in the sense that if the question is asked, either because the person knows what he did not know, or because one draws his attention to something he did not have in mind or did not know, he benefits from clarification .”
For the President of the Republic, “it’s not a stuffing problem” but “making an effort from memory to know if there’s anything that’s relevant that could be important,” for the sake of themselves, the government and the country . “It is better for a person to ask himself that question, if there is a reason to do so, than not to ask the question and then suddenly have to ask himself the question because others ask it,” he argued.
“The declaration of income and assets is one thing, the questionnaire is about other realities: criminal cases, payment of taxes, payment to social security, companies with relatives.”
To Costa’s arguments, Marcelo countered that “there are matters covered by the questionnaire that are not covered by the declaration of income and assets”. “The declaration of income and wealth is one thing, the questionnaire is about other realities: criminal cases, payment of taxes, payment to social security, companies with relatives,” he stressed.
In his opinion “the Prime Minister meant: I enclose at this time the declaration of income and assets submitted by the members of the government with what I know about them, I have no doubt that, if it were necessary to reply to the questionnaire, they would have no problem answering”.
“Because what matters, I don’t know if people understand it, isn’t the legal issue: a questionnaire is starting to come out, a questionnaire hasn’t started. The questionnaire is just a memory exercise for people to remember what’s important in domains that are very sensitive to the enlightenment of the Portuguese, in the past, present and future,” the head of state added. “The questionnaire is just a pretext for people to have a written text with it to remember what they might not otherwise remember,” he concluded.
Source: DN
