The Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said this Saturday that he will continue in office despite the scandal about his links with companies, and said he wants a “motion of confidence.”
“I did not commit any crime, nor did I have ethical failures,” Montenegro said after an extraordinary council of ministers, adding: “I feel that it is the will of most of the Portuguese that the government continues to execute its program.”
Last week, the Parliament of Portugal rejected a motion of censure presented by the ultra -right party Chega against the Government for a family business, Spinumviva, founded by the Prime Minister.
This, according to Montenegro, means that “the government is in a position to continue implementing the government program.” However, the Portuguese Prime Minister announced, the government will present a “motion of trust.”
“I think it is the majority will of the Portuguese that the Government continues to apply its program. But it corresponds to the Assembly of the Republic (Parliament) and the political parties represented there also to interpret the will of the Portuguese”, something that will be decided in this motion.
This mechanism, according to Parliament, “is presented by the government and its simple rejection causes” its resignation. The Conservative Government Alliance has 80 seats in Parliament -the absolute majority -while the Socialist Party has 78 seats and Chega has 50 of the 230.
This week, local media revealed that the group of casinos and hotels Solverde, based in Espinho, the town where Montenegro is, would have paid 4,500 euros per month to Spinumviva since July 2021.
According to the weekly ExpressMontenegro worked between 2018 and 2022 in Solverde and would have represented this group in the negotiations with the State that resulted in an extension of the concession contract for the Casinos de Espinho and del Algarve.
The Portuguese Prime Minister explained that he effectively provided “legal assistance services” to Solverde, at a time when he did not occupy any political position and assured that he will not participate now in any negotiation process that affects that company.
In this sense, Montenegro said this Sunday: “Portuguese, I have never given up any particular interest above the public interest and the general interest, and thus will continue to be. Whenever there is some conflict of interest, for personal or professional reasons, I will not participate in the respective decision -making processes.”
On the controversy for his wife and children’s company, Montenegro questioned whether he has the right to deprive them of work “for their political activity, and criticized that the exposure to which his family was subjected” reached a limit “that he never imagined.
And, finally, he said: “We must avoid the political crisis. But it must also be said that it can be inevitable, that no doubt.”
