First a silence of more than 21 hours. No one would speak for the prime minister for “institutional reasons”. Then a long silence: “the prime minister has already said what he has to say”. And then, an equal prescription given by ministers, were it not for Costa Silva, Minister of Economy, who had anticipated: “What the country needs, and I believe this is the message from the President of the Republic, is stability, continuity, and the government has all the legitimacy to continue, to solve people’s problemsSpeaking after Costa, Duarte Cordeiro, Minister of the Environment, reinforced the idea: “Being at work, showing the result of our work, is a good example of why stability is needed”.
A government with an “electronic bracelet” [expressão usada por Miguel Pinto Luz na entrevista DN/TSF], a weakened government? “Even in life we have a deadline let alone in governmentsCosta Silva replied.
Minutes before, António Costa, who left the Picadeiro Real in Belém, appeared after the presentation of the Camões Prize to the Mozambican writer Paula Chiziane, for the promised explanations about the words of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
João Galamba could connect directly to the SIS, is this within your remit? The question remained unanswered. Was the government weakened after what the president said? The question remained unanswered.
But three times, and without the question being asked, António Costa insisted on repeating the praise for his administration: “Last month, we paid the first tranche of extraordinary support to the families most in need. This month, families with mortgage loans are already receiving subsidized interest, when they exceed their effort rate, and the first month of rent support is also paid to families who struggle to access housing”.
And even minutes later, and also without a doubt to that effect, he quoted Deco, because of zero VAT, to say that “food prices are falling”.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in his communication to the country on Wednesday, justifying the non-dissolution of the Assembly of the Republic, had precisely listed a list of political needs because “in a time like this, what [ os portugueses] they want government officials to solve their day-to-day problems. Food prices. The functioning of schools. The speed of justice. The price of the house purchase”.
“Despite some big, very positive numbers for our economy and support for families and businesses, these large numbers have not yet reached the lives of the majority of Portuguese people. They expect and need more and better,” warned Marcelo.
Costa responded this Friday saying that in July “the improvement in the economy will translate into an interim increase in pensions” and that “this month will also translate into the interim increase in civil servants’ salaries retroactive to January”.
What about the “attentive” and “interventive” surveillance promised by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa? “All Portuguese trust and want this active supervision by the President and Government is no exception, nor does it feel uncomfortableCosta replied.
As for “responsibility is more than apologizing, turning the page and forgetting. It is paying for what has been done or left undone. It does not leave for reasons of personal conscience” – an idea underlined by the President of the Republic -, O prime minister summed it all up to a “disagreement. That’s it, it happened. It’s not worth dramatizing”.
“A natural divergence, I admit rare in these seven years and two months, but that is normal between holders of two sovereign bodies (…). Did we disagree? Yes. Mr. President of the Republic had the opportunity yesterday [quinta-feira], to explain very thoroughly the reasons why he thinks as he did. I had the opportunity on Tuesday to explain in detail how I concluded what I concludedhe added.
“Of course”, but reduced to a circumstance: Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa “has a different opinion from mine about who is responsible” for the “deplorable” situation – argument repeated twice. “We share the same view that a regrettable event has taken place, we differ on who is responsible for this situation, but we agree on the most important thing, which is the need to ensure stability and continue the government policies that ensure a good evolution of the economy and that this good economic evolution translates into an improvement in the life of the Portuguese,” was António Costa’s summary.
The “fundamental divergence” proclaimed by Marcelo was devalued by Costa, who states that “there’s no need to dramatize” because “there was a moment when the needles weren’t right”. “In the past”, Marcelo had said the day before, “with more or less temporal distance it was always possible to hit needles. Not this time. It was a pity”.
And can João Galamba lead TAP’s privatization process? “The conditions for each of us to perform our tasks are measured from the beginning by the results”Costa replied. And then the praise: “On Thursday, the Minister of Infrastructure had the opportunity to reach an agreement that ended a strike at CP (…), this is the best proof that he is fulfilling his duties.””.
and shouldn’t [Galamba] resigned after the president’s statements? “We’re not going to revisit the story because the story is too obvious.”
In a short sentence, António Costa tried to dedramatize the whole controversy with words from the president: “Past? [Marcelo] He said what we all already knew, he has a different opinion than mine about who is responsible. Future? Total convergence. Stability is needed and good policies need to be pursued”.
Source: DN
