Prime Minister Antonio Costa, in an interview with the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia published this Sunday, denies there are problems in the justice system and defends an election campaign that does not address these problems.
“I believe that in Portugal there is no problem with the justice system, the problem is understanding the timing of justice. The initiation of an investigation should not be confused with a conviction. That is one of the problems,” António Costa said after asking the question. about the legal proceedings that led to his dismissal and the subsequent call for early legislative elections and the “fall” of the Madeira regional government.
The Prime Minister stressed that the legal principle of the presumption of innocence should never be forgotten, saying he believed that justice was doing its job and that these issues should be kept out of the election campaign.
“We can discuss the politics of justice, but not justice itself. We can discuss the means of justice, but the system must be respected,” he said.
António Costa noted that public opinion is governed by times different from those of justice, and reiterated that it is necessary to respect the functioning of the system so that it does not return to the Middle Ages, when justice was carried out in the public square.
Asked about the rise of populism and the far right in Europe, the Prime Minister acknowledged that the inflationary and geopolitical context creates “easy territory” for these phenomena, which offer only “easy solutions based on words.”
However, he recalled that “easy words travel with the wind,” so he does not believe that Portugal will remain dependent on the far right after the March 10 elections.
“It is true that populism has grown, but I am convinced that as we get closer to the elections, this growth will decrease,” the Prime Minister emphasized.
Asked about the possibility of an agreement between PS and PSD, Costa recalled that this had only happened once, in 1983, but he did not believe it was an option now.
On European policy, when asked about the possibility of introducing demands for increased military spending into the European democratic consensus, the Prime Minister defended a strong Europe, including defence.
“We are all now concerned about the risk of Putin’s candidate returning to the presidency of the United States. This would be tragic for the world. But it shows that we need a strong Europe,” he said.
Regarding his readiness to take on a European role in the near future, Antonio Costa said now is not the time to speculate about the future.
“My life depends not only on me. […] The most important thing is that in June [nas eleições europeias] The European project enjoys clear majority support. We face very big challenges,” he concluded.