New ‘revelations’ on PM’s business dealings come by the day
With the prime minister painted as the architect of Portugal’s political crisis – but adamant that he will continue leading his party, President Marcelo has convened a Council of State for 3pm this afternoon, to decide the next step in Portugal’s political crisis.
Everything is still pointing at new elections, most likely on Sunday May 11 (possibly Sunday May 18, but more favour seems to be in the ‘earliest opportunity’).
Before these can happen, Marcelo has to ‘dissolve parliament’ – and it is highly likely that he will explain all this to the country after the meeting. In the past he has chosen an ‘address to the nation’ at the start of the evening news at 8pm.
This will be Marcelo’s third dissolution of parliament in a tenure in which his constant refrain has been on the necessity to maintain ‘stability’.
It comes against the backdrop of every party (ostensibly) saying they do not want elections, and polls showing very much that the voters in this country do not want them either.
Yesterday’s ‘people’s tabloid’, Correio da Manhã, cited the latest polling results, stressing “Luís Montenegro has lost the trust of the Portuguese”.
Thus the PM’s insistence that he will continue leading his party into new elections, poses an exceptional risk. Nonetheless, ministers insist they are backing him to the hilt; he himself has said he is “not giving up” and has “a lot more to give” – and certain PSD figures are also right behind him.
But certainly one is not: Ângelo Correia, described as “a historic social democrat” was on SIC Notícias last night, blaming the crisis squarely on Montenegro and accusing the prime minister refusing to let go of power.
“In a normal government, at a normal time and in a normal country, a prime minister would not run for office under these circumstances. He’s completely attached to power, but not just him. It was the PSD itself that played the game of ‘take here and I’ll give you here’. The PSD has made itself vulnerable on a scale that is not worthy of a party like the PSD,” he said.
This could be dismissed as one person’s point of view if it were not for the news tumbling in today in CM about further suspicions that the prime minister was actually using his family company, Spinumviva, to ‘obtain tax advantages’.
The paper goes into the various details – and even repeats some of the quotes that the PM gave in an interview on Monday night, billed as him ‘explaining everything’ to the country before the motion of confidence (which the government lost). But the bottom line is that the whiff of conflicts of interest unbefitting a prime minister is there (and now under investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office).
In simple terms, there will be a great deal to discuss and weigh up in this afternoon’s Council of State. ND
