Judicial system “must be respected”
Portugal’s Prime Minister António Costa has rejected the idea (perpetuated through the media) that there is a problem with Justice in this country, defending an election campaign ‘far removed from these issues’, writes Lusa, citing an interview with the PM in Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia, published today
“I believe there is no problem with the justice system in Portugal, the problem lies in understanding the timing of justice. The start of an investigation should not be confused with a conviction”, he said. “That’s one of the problems”.
Mr Costa was responding to questions about the legal proceedings that led to his resignation and the calling of snap elections on the mainland, as well as the ‘fall’ a few weeks later of the Regional Government of Madeira – again following a judicial probe into suspicions of corruption.
He emphasised that the legal principle of presumption of innocence should never be forgotten – saying that he believes the justice system is doing its job and that these issues should be kept out of the election campaign.
“We can discuss the politics of justice, but not justice itself. We can discuss the means of justice, but the system must be respected,” he told La Vangugardia
According to the newspaper, Mr Costa suggested that public opinion is governed by different times than justice, reiterating that the functioning of the system must be respected, so we do not all return to the Middle Ages, “when justice was done in the public square”.
Asked about the growth of populism and the far right in Europe, the Prime Minister admitted that the inflationary and geopolitical context creates “easy territory” for these phenomena, which only present “easy solutions based on words”.
But “easy words are carried by the wind”, so he doesn’t believe that Portugal will be dependent on the far right after the March 10 elections.
“It’s true that populism has grown, but my conviction is that, as we get closer to the elections, this growth will diminish,” he said.
Asked about the possibility of an agreement between PS Socialists and PSD Social Democrats, Mr Costa recalled this has only happened once in the history of Portuguese democracy, in 1983, and he doesn’t believe now is the time for it to happen again.
Regarding European policies, he was asked about the possibility of introducing demands for greater military spending into the European democratic consensus.
“We are all now worried about the risk of Putin’s candidate returning to the presidency of the United States”, he said (referring to Donald Trump). “That would be tragic for the world. But it shows that we have to have a strong Europe.”
As for his willingness to take on a European post in the near future, António Costa repeated that he is not up for this kind of speculation.
“My life doesn’t depend on me alone (…) The most important thing is that in June (in the European elections) there is a clear majority in support of the European project. We are facing very big challenges,” he said.
Source material: LUSA
