BdP
Hélder Rosalino
The Government changed “at the last minute”, on Thursday, a law tailored to Hélder Rosalino, who was announced on Friday as Secretary General of the Government, so that the former administrator of the Bank of Portugal could earn twice as much as Montenegro.
Hélder Rosalino was elected, this Friday, to be Secretary General of the Government – the new entity resulting from the merger of three general secretariats of the executive.
The former administrator of Banco de Portugal (BdP) will earn 15,900 thousand euros – the same as he earned at BdP – almost twice as much as the Prime Minister.
However, for this to be possible, the Government had to make a last-minute change in the remuneration status of directors of the general secretariat.
The legislative change was published in Diário da República last Thursday, the day before the Prime Minister appointed Hélder Rosalino to the position.
As detailed by , the initial version of the law does not establish any exceptions regarding the secretary general’s remuneration. According to this diploma, the secretary general receives 6,105 euros gross per month in salary and remuneration expenses. However, Rosalino demanded to earn the same salary in his new position as he received at BdP.
In the amendment made, it is established that “senior management personnel who are workers with a previously established indefinite employment relationship, of a public or private nature, with public entities or legal entities, may opt at any time for the remuneration status corresponding to the job position or category maintained at origin, provided that it is expressly authorized to do so [pelo chefe do Governo] in the respective act of designation, without being subject to the limit established in the previous paragraph”.
BdP will not pay a cent
According to Correio da Manhã, the Government had asked the Bank of Portugal to ensure the payment of Hélder Rosalino’s salary.
However, in a statement issued this Saturday, Banco de Portugal clarified that will not bear the salary expenses of the manager, since “Eurosystem rules” prohibit this.
“The BdP does not assume any expenses related to the remuneration of the Secretary General of the Government, as follows from the Eurosystem rules on the prohibition of monetary financing”, explained Mário Centeno.
Furthermore, “it is even up to the General Secretariat to reimburse the Bank of Portugal for any component of the social protection regime that has been processed directly, as a result of the applicable legal framework”, he adds. In other words, as explained by , the BdP may even continue paying some social protection benefits to which Hélder Rosalino is entitled during the period in which he is Secretary General of the Government, but Centeno demands that this amount be returned.
The new position that Rosalino will occupy from January 1st is the result of the process of extinguishing three General Secretariats (PCM, Economy and Environment and Energy) and CEGER (Government IT Network Management Center).
