The National Council of the PSD meets on Wednesday, in a period of turmoil in the government, with cases and firings, but also marking the first internal public criticism of Luís Montenegro’s opposition.
The meeting is scheduled at 9 p.m., in a hotel in Lisbon, and on the agenda are the approval of internal accounts and changes to the quota regime, the usual point being devoted to the political situation.
At the last meeting of the supreme body between congresses in November to approve the party’s constitutional reform project, the PSD chairman, Luís Montenegro, had challenged those who manifested critically under anonymity to appear before the National Council .
“The less intrigue we create ourselves, the better we will be able to communicate our intentions”he then pointed out at a meeting that was peaceful, with only a few corrections to the way the process of drafting the diploma on the Constitution was conducted internally.
Since then, IL has tabled a censure motion with the government in early January, and the PSD leadership has decided to abstain from voting — on the grounds that it is not time for new elections, just one year after the absolute majority of the PS — and last week a critical statement of vote (delivered a few days after the debate) from deputies André Coelho Lima and Carlos Eduardo Reis, prominent supporters of former President Rui Rio, was released.
In the text, the two deputies – following the party’s voting discipline – believed there were reasons to denounce the government and approve the IL’s motion, defending that the current age “does not tolerate lukewarmness” and “the vocalization” demands of the differentiation of PSD, warning of the risks of “demarcation” in abstinence.
On this explanation of vote Montenegro stressed that “the PSD is a democratic party and in which everyone thinks for themselves”, but recalled that he took part in a meeting of the parliamentary group to report the abstention “face to face with the deputies” and that, at that time was it not “faced with no opposing opinion”, referring to a meeting scheduled the day before in which neither Coelho Lima nor Carlos Eduardo Reis were present.
Expresso also published an article on Friday by the defeated candidate, Jorge Moreira da Silva, in which the former PSD vice-president criticized the government, but also the opposition parties that “do not risk proposing alternatives and limit themselves to a fight record”, announcing that from the end of January it will promote “broad public discussion on a new generation of policies and measures that can position Portugal”.
Former leader Rui Rio also returned to public space last week — albeit without commenting on national politics — and Pedro Passos Coelho has appeared on social networks at luncheons with party figures such as former Secretary of State José Eduardo Martins, who has remained silent since December he wrote an article in the online newspaper Observador in which he called on parties opposed to the decriminalization of euthanasia to commit to overturning the law in the future, if they get a majority in parliament.
Luís Montenegro strongly disagreed with this position, deeming it “too closed”, and came after the PSD proposed a referendum on the subject – which was not even admitted due to its unconstitutionality – days before the diploma was put to a vote brought. global final in parliament.
The first National Council of the PSD this year takes place a few days after the first anniversary of the absolute majority of the PS and a few weeks after several resignations in government — including that of Pedro Nuno Santos — which led the executive to approve a pre-verification questionnaire to be completed by guests for ministers or secretaries of state, covering the past three years of activity and extending to the household.
In recent days, the news continues of controversies and lawsuits involving members of the executive such as the Minister of Finance, Fernando Medina, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Minister of Defense, João Gomes Cravinho, and the Minister of the Environment, Duarte Cordeiro, who has already led the Prime Minister to defend that judicial investigations should not be targets of political attacks.
Questioned several times about the consequences of the “fallen” in government, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has categorically rejected the dissolution scenario, saying that “it is not clear that there is immediately a clear and strong alternative to the existing”.
A PSD deputy and prominent supporter of Montenegro was also involved in a recent lawsuit: in the context of Operation Vortexwhich resulted in the arrest of the mayor of Espinho (PS) Miguel Reis (who has since resigned from his mandate), house searches of Joaquim Pinto Moreira were carried out and his computer and mobile phone were seized.
The former chairman of the municipality between 2009 and 2021 has not been identified as a defendant for the time being, nor has the request for the lifting of his parliamentary immunity reached parliament, but he has already left the vice-chairmanship he held on the PSD bench and chairmanship of the Constitutional Revision Committee.
The PSD chairman expressed his “disgust and outrage” at what he says are “politically motivated maneuvers”. to try to associate him with Operation Vortex, with the guarantee that this will not intimidate or weaken him.
Source: DN
