Mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Coins
Is a resignation for political responsibility an act of courage or cowardice? It depends on the context.
Carlos Coins spoke for the first time, in an interview, after the accident Tragic in Lisbon last week, no.
The central subject was, without surprises, to try to understand what failed in that derailment, while talking about political responsibilities and eventual dismissal of the mayor of Lisbon.
Coins assured: “There is no mistake that can be imputed to a mayor’s decision.” But he also assured: “If anyone proves that some action I had, something I did as Mayor of Carris not to spend enough maintenance, that this company did not do what I had to do, I dismiss my day.”
Pedro Bogas has tried to fire. The president of Carris made his place available but Carlos Coins rejected your exit. In this, he justifies: “No one leaves. There is no possibility. No one can fire this. It is a cowardice someone to dismiss. I won’t leave it. ”
That is, for Carlos Coins, assume responsibilities and remove conclusions “is to escape”, begins by analyzing Filipe Santos Costa, commentator at.
The commentator believes that the president of Carris is functioning as a “human shield” for coins. “If Pedro Bogas leaves the scene, coins, the political responsible, is exposed and there is no way to hide.”
But Carlos Coins already had – and has – other ideas about politicians layoffs. The case was recovered by journalist Clara de Sousa, in the same interview.
Em 2021, Someone in the Lisbon City Council to the Russian embassy names, addresses and contacts of three Russian activists who organized a protest, in front of the Russian embassy in Lisbon, for the release of Alexey Navalny.
At that time, the president was Fernando Medina. Carlos Coins demanded his immediate resignation: “We in politics have, once and for all, to have a different attitude. (…) This is a technical error, but with political consequences. In the past, many politicians, including the PS, when there were technical errors, serious errors, resigned. It is good for Fernando Medina to remember these politicians who resigned and took their political responsibilities ” – a reference to Jorge Coelho, who was Minister of Social Equipment when the bridge fell into them in between them; fired hours later.
“Nowadays this is no longer in politics, and it is serious. When I say that politics must be done differently, I am talking about this kind of cases,” he continued at the time.
What did Jorge Coelho know
Four years later, Carlos Coins spoke again about the former minister: “Jorge Coelho had received information about maintenance problems on that bridge. There was information that arrived at that minister’s office. And he, with all courage, And exactly because of this information, it resigned. ”
“Political responsibility is when the politician knows and does not act,” he had no information on his cabinet on the elevator
But It wasn’t quite like that.
Luís Rosa, who closely followed the case of the Hintze Ribeiro Bridge, explained that Jorge Coelho received a report on problems on the bridge board – not on the pillars or about sand extraction. It was a pillar that fell; and the extraction of sands (and erosion) were the causes of the drop of the bridge.
Coins implied that Jorge Coelho knew the concrete causes of the bridge fall. “It did not lie clearly but was, at the very least, misleading”warns Luís Rosa, on the radio.
In addition, Jorge Coelho died in 2021. “It’s not here to defend yourself,” the commentator continues.
José Luís Carneiro did not like this mention of the former socialist: “He used absolutely unacceptable expressions and even dare Offend the memory of Jorge Coelhowhat no political circumstance can justify, ”said the PS leader at Lusa agency.
Returning to Filipe Santos Costa: “After all, Jorge Coelho is no longer an example to follow, when he resigned in the tragedy between the rivers. After all, Jorge Coelho was a coward“.
And there is still another point. Carlos Coins said: “Politics doesn’t interest me much, the elections don’t interest me very much right now. These were days when the lives of so many people have changed, when Lisbon’s life changed. I’m not thinking about the elections“.
But he dedicated much of the interview with Tricks, attacking PS and victimizing, analyzes Luís Rosa.
Nuno Teixeira da Silva, Zap //
