Deputies of the Commission on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees rejected this Wednesday Chega’s motion to hear the former Deputy Secretary of State, Prime Minister Miguel Alves.
The request was denied as the PS voted against, the PKP, the Left Bloc, Svobodnaya and Liberal Initiative abstained, while the SDP and Chega voted in favor.
In the debate leading up to the vote on the application, Chega’s parliamentary leader Pedro Pinto felt it would be “extremely important” that Miguel Alves be heard in parliament, as he was “an arguido in two trials” and was under investigation. “an investigation is allegedly under way into facts committed during the period when he was mayor of Caminha.”
“These are extremely important facts, because he was a member of the government, he was an important secretary of state in the apparatus of the PS and in the apparatus of António Costa, and we consider it extremely important to hear him here in this first commission, despite the fact that he has already left composition of the government,” he said.
Intervening after Pedro Pinto, Deputy PS Joan Sá Pereira recalled that Miguel Alves had already ceased functions – “and therefore is not responsible for performing functions that he no longer has” – and considered Chega’s demand a “contradiction” as it addresses to the investigations that haunt Miguel Alves during the period when he was Mayor of Caminha.
“The Assembly of the Republic is not obliged to scrutinize and supervise the political activities of the former secretary of state for the facts that he allegedly practiced as mayor.
Blaming Chega for needing “similar scenarios and political theaters for media coverage”, Joana Sa Pereira also ironically said that “with the presentation of the statement by Mr. Pedro Pinto, we will get rid of the existence of the courts as important bodies in any democratic rule of law state” .
“The deputy and his parliamentary group have already made a decision, he has already made a decision, and perhaps he even has a corresponding sentence for Mr. ex-Secretary of State Miguel Alves,” he joked.
Joana Sa Pereira argued that “The Assembly of the Republic, as a sovereign body, has an absolute basic obligation to respect the functioning of other democratic institutions”, arguing that if it were to consider ongoing investigations or legal proceedings, it would suffer the “grossest violation” of these rules.
“I’ll even tell you that it throws into the trash everything that April 25 brought us and that this is absolutely important, even more important today. (…) Chega likes to pursue such policies and feeds on them. Policy type. In short, he is contributing to democracy, but they will not bypass us,” he said.
In response, Pedro Pinto said that after Joana Sa Pereira’s statements, “everything was explained”.
“Everything is explained: why political parties are all the same, why no one wants to fight corruption, why it is difficult for them to talk about corruption. And I say that this is Chega’s political position, and that we are very proud, believe me, we are very proud,” he said.
Parliament leader Chegi also added that April 25 also brought “serious politics, freedom of speech” and freedom for parties to make statements.
“Freedom does not exist only for the left, only for the right, not only for the PS, not only for the SDP: it exists for all political parties represented here by popular vote. And this freedom also allows us to make this request. If Ms. Joana Sa Pereira didn’t like it, listen, we’re sorry,” he said.
On November 10, the President of the Republic accepted the resignation of the Deputy Secretary of State to the Prime Minister, proposed by the head of government, António Costa, after Miguel Alves presented him with a letter of resignation.
“Given the accusation brought by the Prosecutor’s Office, and although I do not know its conditions and assumptions, I understand that the conditions that allow me to remain in the Portuguese government are not met,” the minister justified in a resignation letter released by the Prime Minister’s office.
Miguel Alves mentions that the State Ministry’s accusation, which was reported on the same day by the newspaper Observador, was confirmed by the Attorney General of the Republic, Lucilia Gago, after contacting the Minister of Justice, Catarina Sarmento and Castro, and refers to “facts that happened in 2015 and 2016”, when he was Mayor of Caminha in the district of Viana do Castelo.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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