BE formally protested against the Minister of Culture in parliament this Wednesday after Adão e Silva refused to respond to Joana Mortágua, justifying his response before the deputy arrived at the hearing.
The Minister of Culture was heard this Wednesday at the Committee for Culture, Communication, Youth and Sport on various topics, namely on support for regional and local media.
On this topic, BE deputy Joana Mortágua questioned Pedro Adão e Silva about the sustainability of these media, which she considered essential for democracy and territorial and social cohesion, and whether the government is available to review support models.
In response, the ruler said he would not respond because he had already answered the same question and quoted a group of skeptical Pyrrhonist philosophers of Greek classical antiquity, who, he said, continued to answer questions even when the interlocutor was not there.
“The deputy came in and I had already answered that question. She repeats the question and I will not answer again. Of course I am available to continue talking, even if the interlocutors are not in the room.”said the minister.
Joana Mortágua then asked the chair of the committee to remind the culture minister that he is in parliament so that he can fulfill his oversight role and it is not for him to comment on how each parliamentary group organizes its delegates in the various hearings and committees taking place simultaneously.
However, Adão e Silva returned to discuss the deputy’s absence at the start of the hearing.
“Certainly I made no political considerations about the legitimacy of the question, so much so that I had already answered the question, but I can’t help but take into account the fact that a member of government will come to parliament at some point and deputies are not present, they come in the middle and ask questions that have already been asked. And it’s not the first or the second time that’s happened and that’s all I want to make clear”he said.
Joana Mortágua then made it a point to “protest” the way the minister addressed the sovereign parliament.
“The minister comes here as someone who is under scrutiny and does not think about the organization of parliamentary groups – to which the minister must respond when asked, whether it be once, twice, three, four times – much less to weave considerations about the time when deputies may or may not enter the chamber”he claimed.
Also during the morning, BE presented a formal protest against the Minister of Culture at the Conference of Leaders meeting.
In the formal protest, which Lusa had access to, the party refers to the fact that with several committee meetings “it is normal for deputies to have obligations in several at the same time”, especially in the smaller parliamentary groups, and that “even for that reason the ‘ site’ of the parliamentary channel broadcasts the various committee meetings to enable advisers to follow the work of the meetings and to inform the deputies about it”.
BE reminds that it is the government that is under the supervision of parliament and that “it is not for the government to say where the deputies are or not”.
“Mr.said BE in the protest at the Conference of Leaders.
Already after the altercation between Joana Mortágua and Adão e Silva, in the Culture Committee, the deputy of Chega Jorge Galveias also expressed his displeasure with the way the Minister of Culture addressed the parliamentarians.
“The minister will have to answer the deputies’ questions as they come, it could be once, twice, three, four times,” said Chega’s deputy, who still considered it “unethical” that the minister while speaking was talking to Secretary of State Isabel Cordeiro, “paying little or no attention” to her intervention.
After the way Adão e Silva addressed Joana Mortágua, several delegates who asked questions but could not wait for the end of the round of questions to hear the answer due to other duties, justified their departure, which led to the President of the Commission of Culture , Luís Graça, recalling that “deputies enter and leave the chamber whenever they want, they do not have to give justifications”, the justifications must be given to the voters.
Source: DN
