PSD president Luís Montenegro said tonight that he will “never” legitimize acts of indiscipline”, but rejected a “preliminary condemnation” of naval personnel who refused to board the Mondego ship.
“I hope that the Portuguese Navy makes a very thorough assessment, without complexes, of what is going on, so that we know who is right”said the leader of the PSD tonight during an intervention in Évora.
Montenegro assured that it will “never” legitimize undisciplined acts, but also warned: “We may have reasons to understand those who refused to carry out that operation and we must be open-minded about it, not start with a prior condemnation of that act” .
The Social Democratic leader was speaking at a district meeting of the party in Évora, where the new district political committee, chaired by Francisco Figueira, took office.
In the initiative, in the context of the “Build the Alternative” days, the Social Democratic leader said that the PSD “is on the right track, unlike the government”.
and it is “to build the political alternative to break [o] circle of impoverishment” of the country that leaves people out of hospital, that closes emergency rooms, that leaves our naval ships moored because the respective garrison is the first to recognize that there were no safety conditions for the planned operation”criticized.
Referring further to the episode of the 13 Portuguese naval soldiers who refused to board the ship Mondego on Saturday night, claiming that there was no security, for a mission to escort a Russian ship to the north of the island of Porto Santo , in Madeira , Luís Montenegro said it is up to the Navy Chief of Staff to judge what happened.
“There is one thing I know. Our armed forces need discipline, there is no doubt about that, but discipline must be scrutinized by those who receive the directives and also by those who are the emissaries of the directives”he claimed.
Arguing that “maturity” is necessary so that “all responsibilities” can be established, the Social Democratic president “turned batteries” on both the government and the Prime Minister (Prime Minister), António Costa.
Montenegro said he wants to know if the head of government is “able” to “assure Portugal that the navy has all the equipment and resources to fulfill its mission”
“It does not mean, as I said today, that Admiral Gouveia e Melo will try to find out whether or not there was respect for the rules of discipline,” because “that is not the job of the Prime Minister”criticized.
“Because the news that reaches us is that there are several ships of the Portuguese Navy that are not able to operate in an absolutely safe manner and we cannot doubt that because it is in fact at stake, our sovereignty and our responsibility to preserve one of the greatest assets we have, which is our maritime platform”marked.
Source: DN
