Augusto Santos Silva, President of the Assembly of the Republic (AR), on the one hand; and Carlos César, president of the PS, on the other side. Two of the most important figures in the socialist constellation were divided this Monday over the secret meeting that brought together TAP CEO Christine Ourmières-Widener with a PS deputy and elements of the government (Ministry of Infrastructure) on January 17. , the eve of the manager going to parliament to explain the dismissal of Alexandra Reis.
“It’s an episode that I don’t think will happen again. We are all learning,” said Santos Silva. “The parliamentary groups that support a government and that government can and should hold periodic meetings, at the appropriate political level, but these meetings should not involve other personalities who, because of their more technical profile or the responsibilities they have – either to the head of the direct administration of the state, or the head of the indirect administration, or the head of the corporate sector of the state.”
For Carlos César, the whole truth about this meeting is the target of a “hoax” because “it has always been practical to hold these informational and/or preparatory meetings, whether with government officials, with managers of companies or public institutions, or simply with other bodies, associations, entities and private companies, opinion leaders or specialists in the matter in question. Independently, or before or after parliamentary hearings” and this happened “quite naturally, with all” parties.
Responding this Monday to all the controversies raised in the parliamentary committee of inquiry into TAP – which will hear this Tuesday the company’s chairman, Manuel Beja, also dismissed by the government with Christine Ourmières-Widener – the president criticized of the republic also the secret meeting thereof, which he compared to “a teacher who prepares an exam with the students he is going to examine”. Marcelo also assured that he “never contacted anyone about this” (referring to the request that former Secretary of State for Infrastructure Hugo Mendes made to the CEO of TAP to change the schedule of a flight from the company that would be the president of Maputo to Lisbon).
Marcelo also took the opportunity to respond to calls claiming he should dissolve the AR and call early elections. Referring to the war in Ukraine, the economic financial crisis with high inflation and also the continued execution of PRR funds, he concluded that “in this environment it makes no sense to talk about decomposition periodically”.
In a statement to Lusa, António Costa took the opportunity to qualify Hugo Mendes’ actions by the Prime Minister as “very serious”. “If I had known [o caso, na altura]would have forced the minister [das Infraestruturas, Pedro Nuno Santos] to fire him on the spot.”
PSD, IL and BE accused the prime minister of avoiding responsibility with this argument. Chega threatened a motion of censure.
Source: DN
