This Monday, the PSD president accused the Prime Minister and the PS of responding to Cavaco Silva’s speech with “political fanaticism” and denial of reality, saying that the difficulties of families and the degradation of institutions are not artificial.
Speaking to journalists at the entrance of a PSD parliamentary days dinner in Funchal, Luís Montenegro responded to António Costa, who on Monday accused the former president of the republic Cavaco Silva of fueling “the madness” of the right to provoke an artificial political crisis and to try to interrupt the government’s path of economic recovery.
“Dr. António Costa, like the entire PS, faces this moment in a very fanatical way and in a state of absolute denial. It is not artificial to degrade institutions and the government, it is not artificial to increase the cost of life of the Portuguesehe claimed.
Luís Montenegro challenged António Costa to comment on “the substance” of the intervention of a former prime minister and former president of the republic who does not engage in the “political struggle” nor often intervenes.
“It should be a sign for the PS and the prime minister to listen better”he said, saying he had not heard the prime minister say where Cavaco Silva “made a mistake in the diagnosis he had made of Portugal”.
Montenegro pointed to one of the problems of the Portuguese that is “not artificial”, the number of Portuguese without a GP, the waiting lists in health care, the delays in justice or the “fiscal suffocation”, since this criticism is unanimous in all opposition and that are “the PS and the Prime Minister living in a different reality”.
“When Dr. António Costa comes to raise the ogre on the right, it means that he is very nervous and afraid of what will happen to him”criticized.
Montenegro insists Costa “should make statements to the country” about the implementation of the “secret”
The PSD president insisted that the prime minister should “make statements to the country” on the performance of the SIS (Security Information Service) in the case of the recovery of a computer belonging to the former deputy of minister João Galamba, without close a commission of inquiry in the future.
“I consider this matter a serious matter, I believe that the country has no explanation, both on the part of those responsible for the intelligence services, and on the part of those who have political tutelage, namely the Prime Minister”said Montenegro, of the opinion that “it is not enough for the Prime Minister to say that everything went well” because “everyone saw that things went wrong”.
The PSD president said it was necessary to know “who called the intelligence services, why they called them” and whether or not “there is an order for someone to guarantee the performance of the government”.
“If so, it means that the services were instrumentalized, if not and if they acted of their own accord, then the services are in an atmosphere of dependence, I would even say of obedience to the members of the government that has to explain”considered.
Asked whether the issue warrants the establishment of a committee of inquiry — after the PSD’s parliamentary leader said the party will vote for Chega and IL’s proposals and is considering whether it has an initiative of its own — Luís Montenegro pressed back into Costa’s explanation .
“If there are no such answers, I have already said that we do not exclude other possibilities to contribute, so that the country knows the truth, no matter who it hurts, even if the pain is in the government and close to the Prime Minister” , he said.
Last Monday, António Costa said in statements to journalists about this case: “I had no prior knowledge and I did not need to have it (…) The SIS did not inform me about anything, no one from the government was informed about anything, no one from the government gave orders and even the SIS did not inform [o Governo] about anything, because that’s not the level of custody. And what is the nature of the operation? It was just a routine operation and as a rule intelligence services do not inform the prime minister of operations before they are carried out.”said the prime minister.
Source: DN
