“I have seen some people trying to avoid the inevitable: the assumption of political responsibilities by the current President of CML. Moedas is a prisoner of his own statements in 2021, when he demanded the resignation of Fernando Medina,” wrote the deputy and former Secretary-General of the PS on social media.
Pedro Nuno Santos recalled that, during the sharing of anti-Putin protester data by the Lisbon City Council with Russia, Carlos Moedas then stated that “a new type of politician was needed, those who took responsibility, even in the face of a ‘technical error’.”
“Regarding political responsibility, to know who holds it in this case, it is not necessary to wait for any investigation,” he argued.
Highlighting that it is unknown if the accident could have been avoided if maintenance had not been outsourced, the former Infrastructure Minister agrees with the Federation of Transport and Telecommunications Unions (Fectrans) when it calls for “a serious evaluation in such a critical area as safety.”
“Fectrans has always been against the outsourcing of maintenance. Maintenance is more effective when it benefits from the accumulated knowledge passed down by successive generations of workers,” he noted.
For Pedro Nuno Santos, it is important to “know the qualifications and experience of the workers in charge of maintenance, as well as their ties to the maintenance company.”
“Also in CP, the government of Cavaco Silva made the maintenance division autonomous with the creation of EMEF, and later, in the government of Passos Coelho, attempted to privatize it. Fortunately, they did not succeed. We, at the end of 2019, reintegrated the EMEF into CP and reinforced CP’s maintenance by hiring more technicians and reopening the Guifões workshops,” he added.
The Glória funicular in Lisbon derailed on Wednesday, causing 16 deaths and injuring two dozen people.
The Government declared a national day of mourning on Thursday.
The Glória funicular is managed by Carris, connecting the Restauradores to the São Pedro de Alcântara Garden in Bairro Alto, covering a route of about 265 meters, and is highly sought after by tourists.
