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The President of the Republic says that he did not contact the widow of the Ukrainian killed by three inspectors of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) because he understood that “he should not make an exception” when “a criminal investigation was being carried out “. But he spoke “countless times” with António Costa on this topic. In an interview, he said that there is a law under construction and admitted inaugurating a government supported by Chega.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke in an interview with SIC, this Friday night, in which he was asked why he did not send a note of condolence to the widow of that citizen and faced the contrast between the fact of having written notes of regret for David Bowie or on Prince and silence in this case from SEF.
“I have always taken the position of not meddling when there is an ongoing criminal case” and “I understood that I should not make an exception and call Ukraine,” replied the president and candidate for Belém next January. “When there is a criminal case, I do not speak in public or in private,” he insisted, assuring that he never contacts the victims or their families.
He spoke “countless times” with Costa
“There was a pending problem that was the global reform of the SEF, which I had discussed with the Prime Minister. And I don’t usually disclose these conversations with the Prime Minister ”, he also defended, in his first interview since he announced the reapplication.
He guaranteed that if a journalist had asked him a question about the case, he would have said that “it was about the Prime Minister”, with whom he spoke “on numerous occasions on this matter.”
“I want a new SEF,” said Marcelo, noting that there is already a guarantee that Minister Eduardo Cabrita will continue. “
“The question has already been answered by the prime minister, who has full confidence, and the minister did not resign,” he said when asked if the maintenance of the minister was at stake.
Furthermore, he refuses to “anticipate the judgment of the courts.”
The day before, the President of the Republic defended the replacement of the current Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) by “others”, if it is confirmed that the attacks against the Ukrainian Ihor Homenyuk, which resulted in his death, correspond to a “modus usual operandi “of this criminal police force.
Notices about TAP and New Bank
In TAP he defended the continuity of what is “one of the links with the Portuguese communities.” But “a restructuring will have to be carried out and the price of this restructuring must be paid,” warned Marcelo, who had not yet received the plan.
The president agreed with António Costa when he considered that the decision to restructure corresponds to the Government and not to the Assembly of the Republic. But it can have “voice and vote if it has budgetary effects.”
Marcelo then left messages to Parliament for the audit of Novo Banco, which was requested from the Court of Auditors. “It was a decision of those who should make it. They did not ask the opinion of the President of the Republic” and “the Court of Accounts has limits,” he warned.
Vaccine delay
Later, Marcelo spoke about the pandemic, assuming his responsibilities: “I was the one who initiated the first state of emergency,” he said. Given the shortage of flu vaccines after guarantees that everyone who wanted to be vaccinated could do so, the president assured that he was based on the guarantees of Minister Marta Temido.
In addition, he says that he spoke with pharmaceutical companies and went on to defend that there should not be excessive expectations regarding covid-19 vaccines. “There are vaccines that are late, we do not have them in January,” he stressed. As for the time of the vaccination campaign, it can take a whole year due to the need for two doses per person. “We must not create high expectations, it is not enough to get vaccinated and the problem is solved.”
“The Pfizer vaccine is a long process that can continue until the end of the year,” he said.
Still with regard to the pandemic, Marcelo admits to being concerned about the impact on participation. “It is an issue that worries me,” he said, recalling having made possible a legislative initiative that “increases the possibilities of early voting in person.”
In addition, he considered that “all presidential candidates” should “attend the next meeting” at Infarmed, in Lisbon.
“Soares is unrepeatable”
Marcelo ended up lowering the bar for the January 24 suffrage. He may “have a lot of flaws” but he’s not “stupid” or “crazy,” he said in the interview. That is why I do not expect the approximately 70% that Mário Soares had in 1991.
“It is unrepeatable, nobody had his past before the revolution and after the revolution,” he said about the former president of the Republic.
“Just under construction”
However, he maintains that, “looking at the latest polls, the right is under construction.” And the center right needs a “vigorous” solution.
For his part, he says that he is not a “faction president” of the Right against the Left, nor was he elected for that.
In addition, he criticized the role that other parties give to Chega, whose leader is a presidential candidate. The other forces on the right and left “can maximize the weight of that party if they make it the center of their strategic system and depend on the party itself,” he warned.
He would take over the right-wing government with enough
However, he admits to having enabled a PSD government that has the support of Chega. “I do not see any constitutional reason not to assume the position of a government supported by Chega,” he said. And “the President of the Republic cannot discriminate against Chega.”
In addition, he insisted that there was no intervention in the Right-wing solution found in the Azores, in which André Ventura’s party allied with the PSD.
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