Lucília Gago’s interview with RTP “is very strange behavior”, “contempt for Parliament”
The interview that the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR), Lucília Gago, will give on Monday night to RTP reveals a “very strange behavior†, considered LuÃs Marques Mendes in his usual weekly commentary space on SIC and SIC Noticias.
Without calling into question the PGR’s right to give an interview, he questioned, however, the sense of opportunity. “He will give an interview after saying he would go to Parliament only after finishing the activity report [do Ministério Público]?†. An attitude that, from his perspective, reveals “contempt for Parliament†.
It is recalled that LucÃlia Gago was summoned by the Bloco de Esquerda (BE) and the PAN to provide clarifications in Parliament on the annual activity report of the Public Ministry (MP), but asked for a postponement of “a few weeks†to finish it. One day after Lucília Gago’s hearing was approved in Parliament, the prosecutor for Operation Marquês, Rosário Teixeira, stated in Jornal da Noite and SIC Notícias that the MP has no interest in overthrowing Governments and that António Costa is not a suspect, because a suspicious person “cannot fail to be considered a defendant†.
The Bloco de Esquerda (BE), one of the proponents of the request, lamented this Friday to Expresso the PGR’s request to postpone the hearing, “under the pretext of finishing the report that should have been delivered in May†.
Budget will be “approved†. “What we have now is a performance.â€
Asked whether the State Budget for 2025 will be made viable, Marques Mendes left an almost absolute certainty: “The Budget will be approved†.
“I’m pretty sure. It is in everyone’s interest: Government, mayors, Socialist Party (PS), Portuguese. And when it is in everyone’s interest, political leaders will not be irrational, they will not commit political suicide. What we have now is political noise, passing blame: the Government will say that, if there is a crisis, it is the PS’s fault; the PS will respond that the responsibility lies with the Government. But it is, to a large extent, an act and it animates the political-media bubble. People should give a big discount. Nobody wants a crisis and there will not be a crisis.â€
According to the SIC commentator, the Government and the PS will end up “negotiating the Budget or parts of the Budget†. “The Government has no alternative, because it is a minority. And Montenegro currently has an advantage: it is on the rise, due to the Government’s action and the support for António Costa. The PS also has no alternative. Otherwise, it generates internal divisions and becomes responsible for the crisis. And the PS is more likely to have the local elections first…â€
LuÃs Montenegro, Hugo Soares and Aguiar-Branco at the PSD Parliamentary Days
Rodrigo Antunes/Lusa
Already about the package of 60 measures presented by the Government and approved this Thursday by the Council of Ministers, Marques Mendes, former leader of the PSD, has a positive assessment. “It is a package with ambition, very well structured, with strategic vision and a sense of demand,†he highlights. “The question is different: it needs to be well executed,†he adds, highlighting that the most important thing about this package is “the concern with creating new opportunities in the Portuguese economy and trying to stop the loss of people, particularly young talents, abroad (emigration)†.
Marques Mendes highlights the incentives for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) to merge, in order to become “more competitive, have the scale and size to compete abroad†, and reduce gradual increase in IRC to 15% by 2027. “If this happens, we will no longer lose in competitiveness with Eastern countries, which attract more investment… IRC is not the bosses’ tax, it can help attract more investment and increase wages.â€
“Disorientations†in Ventura and Chega
Regarding the police officers’ trip to Parliament, Marques Mendes considers that “this episode went badly for Chega†. Despite considering André Ventura “an intelligent leader with a lot of political talent†(“whether you like him or notâ€), he believes that he “made a mistake and a flop, by trying to instrumentalize the police†. “A mistake, because a right-wing party is, as a rule, a party that adheres to order and authority; It doesn’t invite the police to disorder,’ he explains. “A flop, because the unions separated themselves from Ventura and left it alone. Everything went wrong for him.â€
For the SIC commentator, since March 10, Chega entered into “political disorientation†. “The disorientations in Ventura and Chega began right after the formation of the Government, which was unable to influence; continued with the election of the president of the AR; and suffered a heavy defeat in the European Championships, from which they have not yet recovered.â€
Even so, he considers that the first error in this matter was made by the António Costa Government. “I always called this a bickering, Costa created a problem from another world,†he says. “He had no right to make a supplement for the PJ, which was fair, without cautioning the PSP and GNR. There wasn’t going to be money for everything. That’s why I say that everyone is right: the police are right to want more, the Government is right to say that there is no more time off. The opposition also created a lot of expectations, it’s true. But, in the first place, it was António Costa who was to blame.â€
