This morning at the Fabrica 2030 conference, organized by Eco newspaper in Lisbon, Pedro Nuno Santos expressed hope that it would not be necessary to conduct a parliamentary inquiry into Spinumviva.
“I expect that by the end of the electoral campaign, we can clarify what still needs to be clarified,” he stated.
Speaking to journalists after a meeting with the CIP – Portuguese Business Confederation in Lisbon, Rui Rocha argued that “there are only two possibilities” for Pedro Nuno Santos’s “backtracking” on this matter.
“Either Pedro Nuno Santos has access to information that the Portuguese generally do not have – in that case, he should be the first to make it available to the Portuguese – or, if that is not the case, and he has the same information he had a month ago, it is absolutely surprising, not to say irresponsible,” he maintained.
For the leader of IL, it is irresponsible “for someone who wanted to bring the country to a crisis situation to now dispense with what was his fundamental proposal for clarifying all this, which was the parliamentary inquiry.”
“It would be, therefore, absolutely surprising that after the irresponsibility of AD and Luís Montenegro, which led the country into a dead-end, with undesired elections (…), for us to have an opposition leader who insisted on a tool, stuck to it, and now dispenses with it without new relevant information,” he added.
When asked if IL advocates for a parliamentary inquiry into Spinumviva, Rui Rocha said the party “never insisted on any of these issues involving Luís Montenegro.”
“What IL insisted on was having a country capable of generating the success we all desire. We never made personal issues our campaign focus, and we will continue to present our proposals, watching with amazement the zig-zags and irresponsibility of others in handling these matters,” he said.
However, when questioned if he admits to supporting a Spinumviva inquiry, as he had admitted before the legislative election schedule, Rui Rocha noted that at that time, he considered the inquiry necessary to avoid the country going to the polls.
“At this moment, if the main stakeholder already feels adequately informed, that is an assessment they have to make themselves, and most importantly, they need to explain to the country how they contributed to the irresponsibility of leading the country into a political crisis and now, a month later, without knowing if there is any new relevant fact, they dispensed with it,” he remarked.
Regarding whether IL is already informed about Spinumviva, Rui Rocha said the party “never campaigned on it” and reiterated that he considers it was “irresponsible” of Luís Montenegro not to have “addressed” the Spinumviva issue from the start.
When asked if he believes Pedro Nuno Santos managed to address the case involving the acquisition of two houses effectively, Rui Rocha declined to make comparisons or spend campaign time discussing cases involving the leaders of PS and PSD.
In these remarks to journalists, Rui Rocha was also questioned on his stance about the three days of national mourning decreed for the death of Pope Francis, which coincides with the April 25th celebrations.
The IL leader stated he did not want to cause controversy about that subject, considering the days of mourning appropriate, but noted that “the April 25th celebrations are a significant date for the country and should be carried out as planned.”
