In Porto de Mós, within the Leiria district, during a visit to Vasicol, the former Chief of the Naval Staff questioned the nature of information leaks in Operation Influencer:
“What is strange? There is a person who is wiretapped, wants to access their process, and cannot. Then, in a paper, all the wiretaps are published. Something is wrong with this system,” he declared.
Gouveia e Melo emphasizes the necessity for those within the system to “engage in a genuine serious reflection on this.”
“We need to protect the secrecy of justice, the presumption of innocence. We cannot be judged in the court of public opinion due to information leaks. It’s very difficult to restore one’s reputation. Reputation is one of the most important things we must preserve,” he added.
In Porto de Mós, he stressed the need for presidential candidates to have “courage” and not “pretend things aren’t happening.”
“We cannot engage in circular conversations. This [leaks in the justice system] requires the courage to say: ‘This is wrong and needs to be changed,'” he said.
Henrique Gouveia e Melo fears that “if the individuals within the system do not change,” there will be consequences.
“If we do not do something to change this, that confidence [in the rule of law] may be at stake. And that is what we need to change.”
During this campaign’s first action of the day, the candidate also discussed the government’s proposal to create maximum scholarships for higher education students from families with incomes below the poverty line:
“The principle is good, having scholarships for the poorest. The question is, are those scholarships sufficient to make a difference for someone who is truly poor? Can they sustain themselves and complete their higher education with this scholarship? That is the real issue.”
Gouveia e Melo believes the announced amount – 1,045 euros annually – is “a small help but does not make a difference.”
“I think it is truly insufficient. I often speak about what demagogic measures are; they are the measures that look good on television, in news bulletins, but there is a difference between those measures and those that genuinely make a difference,” he criticized.
