António Costa wanted to turn the page on the João Galamba case and admitted that he is not afraid of a call from Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
“Political life is much less fiction than you think. I am never afraid to receive a call from the President of the Republic. It is always a pleasure. The President has roots in the district of Braga and was President of the City Council of a municipality in this district”he said, as he began to divert the topic to the “Government + Next” initiative, which will take place between this Wednesday and Thursday in all municipalities in the district of Braga.
At the urging of journalists, the prime minister pointed to… the sky. “Yesterday was yesterday. Today is a new day. Look at the sky, it’s so beautiful,” he shot.
Previously, António Costa emphasized the importance of the Braga district, “responsible for 10% of exports”, and the growth of the economy. “The economy has already grown much more than in 2019. We want the economy to grow and generate more jobs, more sustainable jobs,” he stressed.
Now that the government has moved to Braga, the executive will have more than 90 initiatives in this district on the themes of innovation, qualifications and mobility, carry out visits and actions under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, the guardianship revealed.
On Thursday, the second day of this initiative, there is also a meeting of the Council of Ministers.
On the first day, António Costa visits the Blufab factory in Braga and the textile company Manuel Gonçalves in Vila Nova de Famalicão, for lunch with business people.
The Prime Minister’s Day also includes the inauguration of the new industrial unit of Lingote Alumínios, in Fafe, the presentation of the BRT Braga (Bus Rapid Transit Braga) project and a dinner with Mayors and Coordination and Regional Development of the North (CCDR -N ).
On Thursday, António Costa will hold the meeting of the Council of Ministers in the morning, which will take place at the Monastery of São Martinho de Tibães, in Braga, while in the afternoon he will visit the works of the IPCA/B-CRIC Student Residence [Instituto Politécnico do Cávado e Ave/Barcelos Collaborative Research and Innovation Centre]in Barcelona.
The agenda of the “Government + Next” initiative for the district of Braga also includes actions by 15 ministers, none of whom are the Minister of Infrastructure, João Galamba.
In recent days, the Minister of Infrastructure has been involved in a controversy with his former deputy Frederico Pinheiro, who resigned a week ago, over information to be provided to the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry into the political custody of TAP’s management.
The case involved allegations against Frederico Pinheiro for physical assault at the Ministry of Infrastructure and the theft of a laptop computer, after he was fired, and the controversy intensified when the Information and Security Service (SIS) intervened in the recovery of that computer was reported. .
On Tuesday morning, the Prime Minister received Minister João Galamba at the official residence of São Bento. Then, in the afternoon, between about 5 and 6:45 p.m., he was at the palace of Belém, in an audience he had requested from the President of the Republic.
At around 8:20 p.m., the Minister of Infrastructure released a statement informing that “in the current framework of perception created in the public mind” he had submitted his resignation to the Prime Minister, “in favor of the necessary institutional calm” – that António Costa would refuse about half an hour later.
António Costa believed that João Galamba is not “personally at fault of any fault” and said that keeping him as minister is a decision that “makes him fully responsible” as prime minister, probably taken against the opinion of the majority of the Portuguese in and certainly against the commentators.
In a note published on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic on the Internet, after António Costa announced the decision not to accept the resignation of João Galamba, the President of the Republic assumed that he disagreed with the Prime Minister “regarding the political reading of the facts” that led him to keep João Galamba “regarding the prestige of the institutions”.
“The President of the Republic, who cannot exonerate a member of the government without being nominated by the Prime Minister, disagrees with his position regarding the political interpretation of the facts and the resulting perception on the part of the Portuguese with regard to the prestige of the institutions that govern them,” said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
Source: DN
