Luís Montenegro announced yesterday that the PSD has withdrawn political confidence in deputy Joaquim Pinto Moreira, accused of the Vortex operation, after asking for his parliamentary mandate to be resumed. Montenegro was keen to emphasize that this was a unilateral decision by the deputy, which had not been agreed with the party leadership (unlike the previous suspension of the mandate).
According to Montenegro, speaking at PSD headquarters at the end of a meeting of the Permanent Commission, this decision implies that Pinto Moreira is “exempt from representing the PSD group in parliamentary work”. In practice, this means that the deputy, who keeps the seat (which only he can relinquish), has practically no vote in the Assembly of the Republic, since it is up to the banks to divide the time of intervention among their deputies . to Montenegro this situation does not mean leaving the parliamentary group (“not on our initiative”), only that the deputy – a name close to Montenegro – “will fail” to express the social democrats’ political position. A limbo with no great antecedents in parliament, where such ruptures have led to the move to unregistered deputy status.
Montenegro also argued that it will ask the Council of Jurisdiction to open an “internal investigation” into the choice of party candidates in Lisbon, in the 2017 municipal elections. Tutti Fruitti involving Social Democratic deputy Carlos Eduardo Reis and Luís Newton, President of the Parish Council of Estrela.
In the same vein, the Social Democratic leader stated that, within the framework of the legal review process and party regulations, a code of ethics will be established for “party leaders and representatives”, with “duties and obligations, the violation of which carries political and disciplinary responsibility”. Another measure to be implemented is the separation between the electoral capacity of the militants and the payment of dues. In this sense, the board will propose that “the internal active electoral capacity does not depend on the payment of the last two overdue quotas”.
“These decisions are related to last week’s news, which alleged alleged electoral combination schemes existed which, if true, undermined the process of internal and external democracy,” Montenegro pleaded. A reference to reports from TVI/CNN Portugal, broadcast last week, that eavesdropping devices have been intercepted as part of the Tutti Frutti operation, pointing to an alleged pact between social democrats and socialists in the capital, in that sense that each party maintains the leadership of some parishes, to benefit private businesses
Montenegro preceded the announcement of these measures with a phrase that is also a clear demarcation of António Costa: “We do not hide behind the jargon ‘to politics what belongs to politics, to justice what belongs to justice'”. It wasn’t just an implied reference: “The PSD does not conform and does not want to contribute to this degradation of institutional political life and that is why it makes a difference. today in the opposition and tomorrow in the government if the Portuguese want it”.
The PSD leader admitted that “the balance between the political, ethical and justice spheres is complex and delicate”, and defended that “political conclusions can be drawn” without compromising essential values. “Because each of these dimensions has its own scope, political lessons can be learned without harming or diminishing inalienable and supreme principles such as the presumption of innocence”, maintained Montenegro. The Social Democratic leader stressed that the decisions taken yesterday “do not imply any judgment of legal censorship” (and this “applies to both the government and the opposition parties”), also reiterating that “there are no problems in this area”. commitment personal or legal”.
Source: DN
