The parliamentary leader of the Left Bloc (BE), Fabian Figueiredo, addressed the “disappearance” of a chapter on the far-right from the final version of the Annual Internal Security Report (RASI), published on Tuesday.
“We want to uncover the mystery of the missing chapter on the far-right. What happened? What led the government to remove this reference from the Annual Internal Security Report? Who made this decision?” he questioned, pointing out that the government had been asked about this situation earlier this morning.
Highlighting the significance of the RASI in discussions on security in Portugal, Fabian Figueiredo emphasized that the document is crucial for parliamentary oversight. “From the moment we discovered that the government is suppressing relevant information from the Internal Security Report, it undermines the oversight role of the Assembly of the Republic and its deputies”, he stated, urging a swift response from the government.
Speaking to journalists in Parliament, the Left Bloc representative also informed that the party requested the government’s presence at the next Standing Committee, where the RASI was to be discussed.
Asked about the “disappearance” and whether it might have been an oversight, Fabian Figueiredo remarked: “Whatever explanation the government provides, it must be a valid one – because we have already seen the communication from the Internal Security System, which states that the version sent to deputies was the approved one. However, journalists and the Left Bloc noticed that there are two versions of the Annual Internal Security Report: a more complete one and an incomplete one,” he asserted, urging the government to send “the complete version to the Assembly of the Republic” to allow for “a serious evaluation of the state of internal security” and thereby facilitate a “serious debate on the challenges, risks, and measures to be taken to continue ensuring that Portugal is a safe country.”
“And, above all, to have a comprehensive picture of the threat that the far-right represents to internal security, both in the digital realm and in groups with international connections”, he justified.
What is at stake?
The Left Bloc has asked the government to explain why the chapter on extremist organizations was omitted from the final version of the RASI, published on Tuesday. This omission was noted last night while the Left Bloc was reviewing the document. The report sent to Parliament on Tuesday, which is available online on the government website, lacks pages 35 to 39 from the initial version, which covered “extremisms and hybrid threats” and highlighted the presence of an international extremist organization in Portugal, labeled as a terrorist organization in several countries.
“We noticed last night, while analyzing the document, that there was missing information. That is a fact: information is missing. I will not entertain any theories, but I expect convincing explanations from the government,” Fabian Figueiredo stated, adding that the Ministers of Internal Administration and Justice, Margarida Blasco and Rita Júdice respectively, along with Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, could not “evade” providing these explanations. “They have been, since virtually the beginning of their term, trivializing internal security, politicizing it in ways we are not familiar with. It has been one erratic behavior after another, and this is yet another. This is not a minor issue; it is a serious omission”, he concluded.
