President Marcelo thanks outgoing Attorney General for her six years of service
In a speech of carefully-chosen words today, President of the Republic Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa bid farewell to the Attorney General – whose tenure oversaw the fall of two governments – and swore in her replacement, Amadeu Guerra
Thanking Lucília Gago for her years which were “fundamentally more of hardships, misunderstandings and sacrifices than tranquility, calm seas and good winds”, Marcelo alluded to the “particularly difficult conditions” in which she took office in 2018; “the constant confrontation between an increasingly demanding public and/or published opinion, which considers every omission or delay a sign of protection for abuses and abusers. And another public and/or published opinion that is increasingly complaining and/or denouncing the abuses of justice, seen as persecution of people and, in them, the holders of political, administrative, economic and social powers.
“All of this”, he continued, “is framed by a public debate that anticipates the formulation of judgements as the right or wrong consequence of the often unjustified slowness of the justice system.
“If we add to this past misunderstandings and grievances, organisational structures, procedures and resources designed for other times and challenges, the inevitable departure of generations from the principles of democracy, new problems posed by mega, or almost mega, cases in both magistracies – and I’m only talking about the criminal field so as not to cover other areas and other demands – these last few years have not been a favourable context at all,” he added.
Among the challenges of recent years, there has been “the explicitness of a debate, until a few years ago subliminal, regarding degrees of external and internal autonomy, and hierarchy, and their realisation in the day-to-day lives of people and institutions”, as well as a “recurring difficulty in finding formulas for communicating with society”.
The president told Ms Gago that “it is a consolation that many others in civic life, at various times, have suffered identical or more onerous pains or worries. And not all of them, having the determined, even tenacious, conviction of your excellency about the office and the magistracy that she had to safeguard and serve until the last day of her performance”.
It was altogether an odd send off for a woman whose mandate was marked by the controversial paragraph released by the Attorney General’s Office on November 7 last year relating to Operation Influencer, which led to the resignation of then Prime Minister António Costa, the fall of the government, very close elections and the situation in which the country finds itself today: hoping that the current government’s first State Budget ‘passes’ in order not to precipitate (another) political crisis.
Shortly after Operation Influencer, Ms Gago’s office oversaw the swoop on political power in Madeira which equally saw that regional archipelago’s government fall. Since then, there has been another operation in a similar vein.
When she took up her post, Lucília Gago stressed that “one of her main priorities” was to be “the fight against economic and financial crime, with a particular focus on corruption”, which she considered had become “one of the greatest scourges capable of shaking the foundations of the state and eroding citizens’ trust in the democratic regime”.
As she leaves, to enjoy a pension of €7,170.15 per month (according to Correio da Manhã) – slightly higher than the €7,119.50 she earned as Attorney General, Amadeu Guerra has taken up the mantle vowing to “closely monitor the fight against corruption and the reasons for the delay in some investigations, emphasising the need to involve the Judicial Police (PJ) more”.
Guerra, 69, also referred to wanting to see improvements to the tackling of economic, financial and cybercrime, as well as domestic violence, records of which he said he finds “alarming”, requiring “timely risk analysis” to avoid homicides.
Source material: LUSA/ Correio da Manhã
