The President of the Assembly of the Republic has excluded Chega from delegations visiting foreign parliaments following an incident at a welcome meeting for Lula da Silva to be discussed at the May 10 leadership conference.
According to a report from the Office of the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Santos Silva told the leaders’ conference this Wednesday that “whenever his travels on official visits to other parliaments include contacts with heads of state, heads of government or ministers of foreign affairs”, there will no longer be accompanied by members “Chegi”.
In the note, Santos Silva believes that through their practice, the Chega representatives have demonstrated that they do not guarantee “100% that they respect these lofty entities and in general the obligations of respect and courtesy that have long characterized and distinguished action outside of Portugal.”
“This criterion is applied immediately and means the exclusion of any representative of the Chega parliamentary group,” the note says.
Speaking to reporters in the Assembly of the Republic, Chega leader Andre Ventura called the decision “democracy zero” and called it “vindictive, childish and dictatorial”.
“What showed himself yesterday [terça-feira], as the whole country saw, was a manifestation within the framework of our mandate as deputies and as representatives of the Portuguese people. The application of sanctions only discredits the parliament and exacerbates the already hidden atmosphere of the conflict,” he said.
Leader Chega also added that “there is no normative rule that allows for the application of sanctions”, considering Santos Silva’s decision “pure arbitrariness and discretion.”
Contrary to this version, PS MP Pedro Delgado Alves stressed that this decision has “all the formal basis”, since only the President of the Assembly of the Republic should determine the composition of the delegations accompanying him abroad.
“This is not a sanction, it simply says that anyone who is not available either abroad or at home, respects the head of a foreign state (…), of course, cannot risk the authority, prestige, respect that the Assembly of the Republic wants. other allied states, friends, for the Portuguese Republic,” he said.
It was also decided at the leaders’ conference that there would be analysis and reflection on the incident by Chega during the meeting of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva on May 10.
Pedro Delgado Alves stressed that Tuesday’s incident forces the Assembly of the Republic “to think about how to prevent, avoid and give a very clear signal that the Portuguese democratic institution cannot fail to reaffirm its principles.”
The PS MP noted that in recent weeks there has been an increase in “hostility and parliamentary courtesy”, and specified that a discussion will be held at the conference of leaders based on the Rules of Procedure, the Statute of Deputies and the Code of Conduct.
Comparative law will also be done in other countries to see how they deal with these kinds of incidents.
“The rules of procedure are being reviewed, we can learn from the experience of other countries. Unfortunately, we are not the first democracy to deal with populism (…), but the resilience of institutions means that we are attentive and will act,” he said.
At the meeting on Tuesday, at the beginning of Lula da Silva’s speech, members of Chega stood up and held up three types of posters: “Enough of corruption”, “Thief a place in prison” and other colors of Ukrainian flags.
The President of Brazil continued his speech for several more minutes, but as soon as there was a pause, the benches on the left and the SDP applauded enthusiastically, and the Chega members slapped the table, which forced Augusto Santos Silva to intervene.
“Deputies who wish to remain in the hall must conduct themselves in a courteous, courteous and educated manner, as is required of any representative of the Portuguese people. Stop insulting, stop humiliating institutions, stop dishonoring the name of Portugal.” Santos Silva said with obvious annoyance.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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