It was 9:00 sharp when deputies from various parliamentary groups observed a minute’s silence at the Assembly of the Republic (AR) in Lisbon. In addition to the parties, the president of AR and parliamentary officials, the government was also represented by the Deputy Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Ana Catarina Mendes, in the presence of Volodymyr Kozlov, chargé d’affaires of the Ukrainian Embassy in Lisbon.
Absent from the ceremony were the PCP delegates and the lone PAN delegate, Inês Sousa Real, who justified her absence by the late hour at which the work of the final Constitutional Review Committee ended the night before. The PCP, in turn, argued that the party stands in solidarity “with the Ukrainian people and not with a xenophobic, warmongering and anti-democratic regime, surrounded and supported by fascist and Nazi forces”. The day before (Thursday), the communists had already criticized what they consider a “position of submission” of the Portuguese government. before the “arms escalation” in Ukraine and defended the urgent need for “the United States, the European Union and NATO to stop inciting and fomenting war”.
After the symbolic ceremony of the minute of silence, the debate on the topic began in the hemisphere (at 10 a.m.), where two votes on the conflict were considered: one presented by the President of the Assembly of the Republic, of “total solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people”; another, presented by the PCP, condemned the “path of interference, violence and confrontation”. Augusto Santos Silva’s text was approved by all, with the exception of the PCP, who was the only one to vote in favor of his text.
During the debate, Communist deputy Bruno Dias referred that the party condemns “a whole path of interference, violence and confrontation”, that is, “the 2014 coup d’état promoted by the United States in Ukraine, which established a xenophobic power and warmongering, Russia’s recent military intervention in Ukraine and the intensification of warmongering by the United States, NATO and the European Union”.
Chega, in a request for clarification following the intervention of Bruno Dias (who received protests from other banks), questioned “what’s the problem” by saying Russia effectively invaded Ukraine.
On the other hand, Liberal Initiative parliamentary leader Rodrigo Saraiva also criticized “the hypocritical discourse of false equidistant pacifism, which puts aggressors and victims on the same level”, and those who “adhere to Putin’s propaganda”.
Rui Tavares, Livre’s only deputy, said that “Putin quits when he is stopped, Putin backs out when he is forced to back down”. The only other deputy, Inês Sousa Real, of the PAN, insisted that there is only one way to pave the way to peace, “by blocking and holding Putin accountable”.
Source: DN
