Portugal is experiencing a “very demanding situation” and the “last thing” it should be doing is “aggravating the difficulties”, inventing a political crisis. Amid yet another controversy surrounding the parliamentary inquiry (CPI) into the management of TAP, which yesterday led to the departure of the committee’s socialist coordinator, the Prime Minister dropped by yesterday to dramatize the scenario of a political crisis.
“The worst thing that could happen was to invent a political crisis in a world that already has a plethora of crises.” the prime minister insisted, pointing to the war in Ukraine and the “inflation crisis” as reasons for the “very demanding situation the country is going through”. “We are living in very challenging times for everyone, for governments, for businesses, for families. The last thing you should do is compound the difficulties.” warned António Costa, at the end of a week in which the president of the republic ruled out the scenario of dissolution of the republic’s assembly, but warned that an absolute majority “is not life insurance if there is no dissolution”.
First drop in CPI
Involved in a new controversy, Socialist deputy Carlos Pereira, coordinator of the PS in the Commission of Inquiry into the management of TAP, yesterday justified his departure with the need to give “rest” to work, saying that he hopes that this decision will end “the climate of suspicion, innuendo, speculation” that he says hovers over the Commission of Inquiry. A decision that emerged following a news report in Correio da Manhã reporting the alleged cancellation of a debt owed to Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), worth approximately EUR 66 thousand, in the case of a loan from a bankrupt company in 2015 and of which Carlos Pereira was guarantor. A case that led the opposition to demand an explanation and raise the scenario of incompatibility, since in 2017 Carlos Pereira was the rapporteur of a parliamentary committee of inquiry into the CGD. Yesterday, at a press conference flanked by the parliamentary leader of the PS, Eurico Brilhante Dias, the now former coordinator of TAP’s CPI, stated that it “is not true that there was a pardon”, rejecting any incompatibility in his participation to the bank’s investigation. CGD, meanwhile, issued a note also stating that “there was no debt cancellation” and that it was “fully compensated” for the amounts owed. Along the way, IL announced it will take the matter to the Transparency Commission and request a parliamentary hearing with CGD management.
Carlos Pereira was already the central figure of another controversy, after it became known that he took part in a meeting with government advisers and with the former executive president of TAP, on the eve of Christine Ourmières-Widener being heard in the Assembly of the Republic, last January – and the deputy is a member of the committee where the former head of TAP was heard. In a row, Chega and IL had already defended the removal of Carlos Pereira from the CPI, while the PSD asked the Parliament’s Transparency Committee for advice. António Costa, who was asked yesterday if he was aware of this meeting, said no, but downplayed the meeting, saying that these meetings are normal and that that meeting had nothing to do with the Commission of Inquiry. But the case is far from closed and the opinion of the Transparency Commission is still being prepared.
However, the PS announced that the deputy Bruno Aragão will be the new socialist coordinator to the investigative committee. With Lusa
Source: DN
