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Ana Gomes assures that she has the support of several government ministers for her candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic and does not skimp on criticism for the changes that the executive wants to introduce in the public procurement regulations and the non-continuity of the Presidency of the Court of counts. He defends an amendment to the Constitution that approves the two terms of five years that a President of the Republic can serve for only one of seven years. In an interview with the program True time From the Renaissance and from the PUBLIC, the diplomat says that this change would prevent the President in his first term from “thinking that he will have to be reelected and is conditioned, even if unconsciously, by the need to be reelected.”
The PS national commission will discuss the presidential elections later this month. Are you already resigned to the idea that your party will not support your candidacy or are you still waiting for a sign?
It’s not about resigning myself. I waited a while for the game to be defined. Not having done so, I decided to go ahead and now I don’t want to interfere in a PS decision at all. I trust that people, socialist activists, know how to think in their own head. I think it is positive that there is a meeting scheduled for October 24 [entretanto adiada para dia 31 deste mês] and I calmly wait for what is decided there.
In presenting his candidacy, he affirmed that the PS has mechanisms to support the candidates. Do you think that the primary elections could be a good mechanism to choose who to support in these presidential elections?
I don’t think it was necessary. It is possible to bring together the different organs of the party to choose who to support in the next presidential elections. It has to be the organs that exist [a decidir], it cannot be a head. And this agrees with what Minister Pedro Nuno Santos said recently: he is not a member of the Government, nor is he a single activist, no matter how responsible he may be, that is, the Secretary General, who can dispense with listening to party organs.
Pedro Nuno Santos had this reaction after statements by Minister Augusto Santos Silva, who paid a great compliment to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who argued that a calm voice is needed in the Presidency of the Republic and that that voice was not that of Ana Gomes . What response do you deserve from the statements of the PS activists who stick this image of an extremist on you?
All militants, starting with Augusto Santos Silva, have the right to have their opinion about me. [risos]. The image of extremist is not accepted. I accept that they say that in some matters I am radical. I am radical against friends, against clients, against corruption, to use the expression of the President of the Republic. If this leads some people to consider me an extremist, it is their problem.
And there are also those who accuse him of populism …
It’s the same reaction: if populism listens to what people think, I’ll be a populist. Now I am not a populist in the sense of someone who wants to divide the country between them and us, the politicians and us the rest of the people. I am a politician, I assume myself as such, I am not one of those who want to destroy the institutions of democracy. I want to reform, regenerate the institutions of democracy and I cannot ignore the fact that much of the rise of dangerous populists, namely the far right, for the purpose of destroying democracy, only happens because there are so many within the democratic system who they prefer to cover their eyes.
Have you spoken to the PS Secretary General after submitting your candidacy?
I have not spoken with the secretary general of the PS there … for two years, since he appeared in the European Parliament. [PE]About a month later, I sent him a letter saying that I did not want to run for the EP again and thanked them for the great opportunity that the PS had given me to serve the country and national interests in the EP.
However, have you spoken with the PS leader, Pedro Nuno Santos? He has almost supported his candidacy, albeit indirectly.
That’s an interpretation you’re doing …
It was almost, almost, almost.
I have spoken with various members of the Government …
Besides Pedro Nuno Santos? Which are
I have spoken to several about various topics that I am dealing with.
And do they support you?
I have several members of the Government who have already told me that they will support me. Naturally, democratically they are waiting for the PS to make a decision on this issue, not reviewing the indications that were given in that sad scenario of Autoeuropa.
Would you like, for example, Minister Pedro Nuno Santos to appear in your campaign?
At the moment, that question does not arise, but, naturally, I will be proud that certain socialist leaders support my campaign. I must also say that there are others that I would rather not appear to [risos].
Don’t you mean who?
It’s not worth it, they know who they are [risos]. Let me be a diplomat.
The pre-campaign starts on Monday [5 de Outubro] with a colloquium in Lisbon that will now be extended to various parts of the country. Is the campaign structure already set up?
He’s been riding, because when I announced [a candidatura] he had absolutely nothing. I must say it has been complicated. For now it is necessary to know the laws that regulate the operation of a campaign, that is, for financial matters. (…) The question of financing is also important, because I wanted to innovate in order to demonstrate what I said: that I accept all support from the democratic field, but I do not accept commitments and, therefore, I do not accept financing that is not absolutely transparent and with a cap of 100 euros [por pessoa].
Although the law says that you could receive individual donations up to something more than 26 thousand euros …
I do not want to follow the law in this regard, although the law does not prohibit a cap of 100 euros.
Won’t you need to borrow from the bank?
No. No way are we going to borrow from the bank.
But have you already estimated when the campaign will cost?
This is one of the problems, precisely making an estimate of the budget, because, by the way, it is the law that must be delivered at the beginning of the campaign to the audit authority of the accounts. [quanto se vai gastar na campanha]. The scheme is designed, in essence, to make life easier for political parties that already exist, because they already have everything.
In terms of mobilization, can the PS or not stop the mobilization of militants and districts for its campaign? In fact, it happened quite a bit during the María de Belém campaign in 2016, when the campaign’s actions were a failure.
I do not believe in that. I am sure that the vast majority of socialists know how to distinguish what are the personal preferences of some people and what serves the interests of the country and serves the interests of the PS itself. (…) When the PS united around a presidential candidacy, it made a difference and elected the President of the Republic. When the PS had no office, or was divided, the right-wing candidates were elected. And at this moment, I think that the socialists must bear in mind that we are going through difficult times for the country and, more than ever, a good relationship with the Presidency of the Republic is necessary, but one that serves democracy, and that is not interested. behind-the-scenes understandings (…).
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, before being president, defended a single mandate. Do you think it would be preferable?
Think. A constitutional review should extend the term, to seven years there, and make a single term. Exactly so that there is not a story that we see systematically, basically, that the President is in the first term thinking that he will have to be reelected and conditioned, even if unconsciously, by the need to be reelected. Because reelection is a validation of your work.
Another issue on the table has to do with changes in public procurement rules [simplificação de processos]. I already said it was unacceptable. What do you plan to do to counter the will of this Government? Will it be a theme of your campaign?
If I were President of the Republic today, I would know very well what to do.
And what he did?
At a time when citizens are very encouraged by this European solidarity that translates into the “bazooka” of European funds, which will help us to get out of this crisis, we cannot use the funds only to return to the state in which we were before. have them. It is a great opportunity to reform the country. At the same time, citizens are also concerned, because they have a memory of the past when there were colossal abuses with European funds. (…) We cannot fall into excess bureaucracy, but neither can we go from eight to eighty, to excess facilitation. In particular, with this government proposal that is discussed in the Assembly of the Republic, which raises the limits that dispense with justification and allows direct adjustment, because that is the recipe for clientelism, compadrio and corruption.
But what would you do if you were president of the Republic?
I do not accept the criterion that apparently was raised by the Prime Minister and that was agreed with the President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, that there is no automatic renewal of certain mandates for certain public positions. There cannot be an automatic renewal, nor can there be an automatic renewal. A case-by-case assessment is required, resulting from an assessment of mandate fulfillment. (…) Even with regard to European funds, without having anything to do with the Liberal Initiative, I agree with the proposal to create a portal that allows full transparency and scrutiny of all contracts that the State, in the field of European funds, will put in the square and that all competitors are controlled. It is transparency that will guarantee the integrity of the process.
The prime minister has already said that he is primarily interested in transparency.
So it’s easy, create the portal [o primeiro-ministro prometeu entretanto fazê-lo]. Allowing a scheme of direct adjustments with a very high amount obviously does not facilitate scrutiny, nor does it facilitate scrutiny as a result.
You have to follow the money.
It is not only the application of money, it is the quality of the decisions, where it will be applied. We don’t need any more white elephants. There is a need for a strategic direction that is not currently seen. There, the President of the Republic can play a decisive role in finding that course, in defining what the priorities are. For example, companies that apply for and are based in a offshore they simply should not be accepted.
This PS and this Government still have many leaders and also ministers who worked with José Sócrates. Apparently no one noticed, they did not notice any of the cases in which the former prime minister is accused. What has changed in the PS and in the country so that this case does not repeat itself?
I was one of the socialists who attended a congress to say that the PS had to put its hand on conscience about the way in which it had allowed itself to be exploited by José Sócrates.
And the PS put his hand on the conscience?
No. Until today I have not said it enough, but in the PS there are many good people who think like me. And I am not referring to the role of Justice; I am referring to the political consequences that a party like the PS should have withdrawn, even to generate trust, not only in its militants, but in the whole of society.
If you are elected President of the Republic, what will you do with the legalization of euthanasia if you receive that proposal?
I am in favor of legalizing euthanasia and the painful experience that I have just lived with my husband [faleceu recentemente] further reinforced this conviction. There is a suffering of the person himself, but also of the family that can be avoided, if we know that we are facing a situation that has no return, that has no medicine, that must be avoided. Suffering is very painful, it is true torture. We cannot tolerate this.
