“I understand that respect among members of parliament is a fundamental pillar of our parliamentary democracy, and members of the Assembly have additional duties, duties of impartiality, civility, protection of the right of all deputies to express themselves, and to never in any way condition democratic debate,” warned José Pedro Aguiar-Branco before the start of parliamentary work.
The warning followed an incident on Thursday during a debate scheduled by Chega about fires, where PS deputy Isabel Moreira complained that the deputy secretary of the Assembly of the Republic, Filipe Melo from Chega, “blew kisses” to her.
Aguiar-Branco stated that he only had the opportunity to see footage of the incident on Thursday night, after the plenary session.
“It is unacceptable,” he added, indicating that he will report the incident to the Transparency and Statute of Deputies Commission, at a time when Filipe Melo was performing functions beside him at the Assembly.
The president of the Assembly of the Republic emphasized that the Assembly members “cannot, should not, neither by gestures nor words nor any other means, silence a deputy or condition what a deputy says.”
“What happened yesterday concerning deputy Isabel Moreira, in the president’s view, should not and cannot happen,” he stressed.
Chega’s parliamentary leader, Pedro Pinto, requested the floor to express his understanding that Assembly members have obligations, “but Assembly members also cannot be provoked by some deputies.”
“It often happens, even with the Vice-President of the Assembly, deputy Diogo Pacheco de Amorim, who is also often provoked by the extreme-left benches. Therefore, it is about equal rights; if they can’t provoke up there, they can’t provoke down here either,” he considered.
In response, Aguiar-Branco agreed with the deputy and asked to be informed of such episodes, but reiterated that “nevertheless, there is an increased responsibility on the part of the Assembly members to ensure this does not happen”—a comment which was applauded by all benches except for Chega.
The PS deputy requested the floor on Thursday to address the Assembly during a debate on fires and firefighters, scheduled by Chega. Filipe Melo, deputy secretary, was seated at the Assembly’s table to the left of the president, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco.
“Mr. President, the deputy secretary to your left [Filipe Melo] is making gestures with his mouth sending me kisses and doing this with his finger on the nose, making ‘shh,’ as if to say do not tell, do not tell,” stated the deputy, emphasizing: “There are limits, Mr. President, there really are limits.”
The president of the Assembly of the Republic stated at the time that he had not seen this behavior and that the Commission for Transparency and Statute of Deputies would have to make a statement.
“I will record and duly forward it to the commission,” he indicated.
