The president of the republic this Thursday insisted that the questionnaire for candidates for governor also be extended to those already in office, for “good civic sense”, stressing that it covers matters not covered by the declaration of income and power fall.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke in response to journalists, in the former royal arena, next to the Palace of Belém, in Lisbon, after being questioned about the position of the Prime Minister, António Costa, on the matter.
“This is a debate not worth spending a minute on: knowing whether it applies or not. It clearly applies. It clearly applies in the sense that it’s part of good citizenship When the question is asked, either why 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 gains clarification.”defended the head of state.
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’s better to ask yourself that question, if there’s a reason for it, than not to ask the question and then suddenly let yourself ask the question because others are asking it”argued.
When asked on Wednesday whether current members of government should also complete the 36-question survey, António Costa claimed that this was not necessary.
According to the Prime Minister, the current members of the government “have already fulfilled these obligations” through declarations of income and assets and “if there is a problem, the Constitutional Court, the Public Prosecution Service or the Assembly of the Republic will take appropriate action”.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa 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 insisted.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stated that in his case “he would be the first to clarify” if, as President of the Republic, he “suddenly came to know a reality in the exercise of his functions or the media put forward a reality which is covered by the questionnaire”.
“Because what the questionnaire wants to address are important questions about sensitive issues for the knowledge of economic, financial, criminal behavior, relationships with tax authorities, relationships with the rule of those who exercise public power,” he added.
The President of the Republic considered that this is “one of those legal discussions that the Portuguese like to have, but which is a way of getting past the essence of things”, which is the duty to “bring more clarity in certain types of domains that are important in the life of a person who has already exercised, exercised or will exercise public functions”.
“The clarification of this is important in any case, anytime, today, tomorrow and always. The questionnaire is just a pretext for people to have a written text there to remember what they might not otherwise remember,” he defended.
Source: DN
