Demand resignation of health minister; further explanations on conflicts of interest
Unfinished business hanging over from last Friday’s debate on the first motion of censure faced by Luís Montenegro’s government continues to hog the headlines this week, with opposition parties rounding on health minister Ana Paula Martins – blaming her for endless shortcomings within the system – demanding further clarifications on possible conflicts of interest, and constantly naming (and shaming) government officials for ‘having interests in the property sector’(and thus potentially standing to benefit from the changes to the land law).
As President Macron visits, beaming enthusiastically at news cameras in spite of driving rain, the reality is that the country’s political fissures are cracking wide open.
CHEGA leader André Ventura ‘leads the cavalry’, saying today that keeping Ana Paula Martins in her position represents “the postponement of a political corpse”, and that the government is in a “free fall from integrity”.
The new fury aimed at Ana Paula Martins stems from a report by IGAS (the general inspectorate of health activities) on the INEM ‘crisis’ last year, blaming the chaos (that saw a number of deaths in questionable circumstances) on the fact that the minister failed to inform INEM of the unions’ strike intentions in good time. The lack of speed led to INEM being unable to enforce minimum services.
But this, to a large extent, is very much ‘old history’: the trouble is that new disgraces seem to appear with accelerating regularity: the board of Évora hospital, for example, has just resigned because of a ‘disagreement with the government in relation to the responsibility for construction of the new Central Alentejo hospital; the ‘crisis’ as Amadora-Sintra (due to the walkout of the surgical team) persists, and FNAM – the national federation of doctors – continues to call the minister out for “leaving several chaotic situations to resolve”.
With all this bubbling away, the media isn’t helping – presenting stories seemingly by the day of government ministers with business interests, not simply in the property sector.
Correio da Manhã headlines its paper edition today with a story about the prime minister having been the lawyer for Solverde (casinos) in negotiations with the state during the second executive of António Costa (ie, the administration before his own) – clearly trying to make out that this too represents a conflict of interest (although the PM was not a member of parliament at the time) – while other outlets refer to the numbers of other PSD government members who appear to have their fingers in myriad pies.
Sábado has gone as far as suggesting the PSD is creating a ‘new familygate’ – a scenario that has characterised Portuguese politics, seeing endless husbands/ wives/ cousins, sisters- and brothers-in-law promoted to high positions.
For parties like CHEGA, this is the stuff of dreams, and so André Ventura has been making the most of it, calling a press conference, saying: “The Prime Minister must be as clear as possible, as quickly as possible. Otherwise, we will have one case after another in a government that is losing credibility and ethics every day.
André Ventura reiterates that he intends to submit a request to set up a commission of inquiry into the issue of the Prime Minister’s family business, if Luís Montenegro does not respond to a list of questions, already sent to him, while PS secretary-general Pedro Nuno Santos has referred to the IGAS report saying ‘political consequences must be drawn’ as a result of the health minister’s “incompetence and serious negligence”. He queries why the President of the Republic remains silent, when in the past he “was very demanding with ministers of the PS” government…
While all this noise clutters the airwaves, Luís Montenegro has been having an audience with the French president almost certainly to discuss much wider ‘chaos’: the constant outbursts by President Trump (the latest being that the EU was created to “screw over the US”); the EU’s scrambling to come up with a plan on how to react to possible 25% trade tariffs coming down the line, and the need for a consensual plan on how to continue supporting Ukraine.
As for President Marcelo, he is almost certaining ‘remaining silent’ as he is hosting his French counterpart this evening, and was caught in a torrential downpour ‘welcoming Mr Macron’ to Lisbon this morning. Photographs showed his suit completely drenched – thus any kind of ‘comments to the press’ about the suitability of the health minister/ the past business dealings of the prime minister would have had to wait.
