IL accuses Costa of wanting to ‘start a war’ with Cavaco Silva

The leader of the Liberal Initiative (IL) Rui Rocha on Monday accused the prime minister of wanting to “unleash a second war” with Cavaco Silva after the “apparent war” between Belen and São Bento palaces.

“The Prime Minister is taking advantage of this intervention by Cavaco Silva to try to enter into a debate and dialogue with Cavaco Silva. We already had an obvious war, a war of two palaces, Belen Palace and Sao Bento Palace, and now, also wants to activate a second war with the former President of the Republic,” he said.

Rui Rocha, who spoke to reporters in the village of Pisao of the municipality of Crato (Portalegre), the area where the Multipurpose Hydrotechnical Development (EAHFM) will be built in Crato, also believes that it is currently in the stage of António Costa’s interest to “distract attention” of the Portuguese.

“I think that at the moment the Prime Minister is interested in diverting the attention of the Portuguese, and when he refers to the intervention of the former President Cavaco Silva, I think that he is to some extent using the intervention of Cavaco Silva to divert attention from what which matters and very serious problems,” he warned.

For the leader of the IL, António Costa wants to “divert attention” from topics considered serious, namely the management of TAP, which he considers “completely amateur management”, as well as the work of the Security Information Service (SIS). ) in a case involving the recovery of a former Assistant Secretary of Infrastructure’s computer.

“The Portuguese are very tired of soap operas, the life of the Portuguese is very difficult, the Portuguese have to face increasing problems every day because of the cost of living, because the healthcare system is not working, because of the transport that does not arrive, for example, in the minimum conditions for the Portalegre region, these are the problems of the Portuguese,” he said.

This Monday, the prime minister considered that Cavaco Silva’s “disappointment” and “resentment” at ending his second term by swearing in a government he did not want to be sworn in justified his opposition to the incumbent executive.

On Saturday, during the 3rd National Assembly of Social Democrats (ASD) Mayors in Lisbon, the former president of the republic, Anibal Cavaco Silva, accused the government of being a specialist in “lies and propaganda” and felt that the prime minister had lost power and fails to exercise the powers vested in him by the Constitution by proposing his resignation.

During his visit to Pisan, where he defended the construction of the EAHFM and raised concerns about the drought, Rui Rocha questioned whether the government considers it “routine” to ask questions such as SIS communicating “in the middle of the night” with a Portuguese citizen.

“He says (Antonio Costa) that we are facing the usual problems, that this possible intervention by the SIS is a common issue, and I ask: but is this normal and can the prime minister say that this is a common situation when the intelligence service contacts you are a citizen of Portugal in the middle of the night,” he asked.

“But if it was trite, then why did João Galamba talk to so many people, why did he talk to Mendonza Mendez, why did he talk to the Minister of the Interior, why did Mariana Vieira da Silva come to say that she also spoke to him, if it was normal case, why did Joao Galamba call the Prime Minister, who did not answer him,” he also asked.

For the leader of the IL, this case “does not add up”, given that there is an “attempt to evade” the responsibility that the prime minister bears in this matter.

Rui Rocha recalled that IL filed a request for the Prime Minister to be heard before the TAP Commission of Inquiry given that there were inconsistencies between João Galamba’s and António Costa’s accounts regarding his knowledge of the SIS intervention.

“This is the public administration in Portugal (about TAP), and then other state-owned companies in the public business sector, what happens there, because in TAP we see everything else, where the Portuguese invest about four billion euros a year, these are all issues that need to be clarified,” he said.