The ECB is waiting evaluation by the Ethics Committee of the Bank of Portugal on the conduct of the governor, Mário Centeno, after the prime minister proposed his name to replace it.
“The Ethics Committee of the European Central Bank [BCE] will be informed about the result of the evaluation carried out by the Ethics Committee of the Bank of Portugal,” an official source from the Frankfurt-based institution responded to Lusa.
this monday afternoon The Ethics Committee of the Bank of Portugal meets to evaluate a possible conflict of interest after the governor, Mário Centeno, was proposed by the current prime minister to replace him in office. It is not yet known whether the commission chaired by Rui Vilar will speak publicly on the issue.
The ECB has a Code of Conduct for Responsible Acts that establishes that the conduct of its members must comply with the principles of “honesty, independence, impartiality and discernment, and without serving their own interests.” In this case, it has been Mário Centeno’s independence that has been questioned by the opposition parties.
Although the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has already decided that there will be early legislative electionsAfter the dismissal of António Costa, this case raises questions and Mário Centeno clarified that he was not invited by the President of the Republic to head the Government.
“It is unequivocal that the President of the Republic did not invite me to head the Government,” since he chose to dissolve the Assembly of the Republic, Mário Centeno said in a statement, thus correcting the statements made to the Financial Times.
Mário Centeno’s statements come hours after President of the Republic denies having invited anyone to head the Governmentincluding the governor of the Bank of Portugal, nor did he authorize any contact for this purpose, after Centeno declared to the Financial Times newspaper that received “an invitation from the President and the Prime Minister to reflect and consider the possibility of leading the Government.”
The Prime Minister, António Costa, stated on Saturday that he spoke with the governor of Banco Portugal about the possibility of succeeding him at the head of a new executive, without early elections, with the knowledge of the President of the Republic.
Portugal will hold early legislative elections on March 10, 2024marked by the President of the Republic, after the The resignation of the prime ministerOn tuesday.
António Costa is the subject of an investigation by the Public Ministry before the Supreme Court of Justice, after suspects in a case related to businesses related to lithium, green hydrogen and a data center in Sines invoked his name as if he had intervened to unlock procedures.
Source: TSF
