Miguel A. Lopes / EPA
Carlos Coins speaks to journalists after the Glory Elevator accident
Mayor of Lisbon justifies the day: “It is the date as soon as possible to not partal the theme”.
The Mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Coins (PSD), refused Today the opposition request for a meeting extraordinary in Thursday About, deciding to schedule it to October 13, the day after the municipal elections.
“The scheduled date is the earlier date as possible to do not A theme that must deserve all technical clarifications, as has been done, ”said Carlos Coins (PSD), in a written response to Lusa.
At issue is one presented on Sunday by the PS, which also joins free, BE and citizens by Lisbon (elected by the PS/Free coalition), for an extraordinary meeting on Thursday, September 25, to obtain “clarifications on falsehoods, omissions and incongruities” under the accident of the Glory Ascension.
“The PS saw in the tragedy of the Elevator of Gloria an opportunity to try to politicize and earn votes. That alone justifies the rushed request for a third meeting on the subject in less than three weeks! ”Said social democrat Carlos Coladas, who reappointed the second term in the October 12 municipal elections.
The Gloria Elevator in Lisbon under the management of the Carris Municipal Company, on September 3, in an accident that caused 16 dead and two dozen injured, including Portuguese and foreigners from various nationalities.
In a announcement published today on the website of the municipality, the mayor reported the convening of an extraordinary meeting for October 13, at 16:00, unique point the updating of information about the accident with the Glory’s lift.
“In both meetings already held, one of them exclusively with the administration of Carris, the gentlemen councilors had the opportunity to question and ask for all the information they wanted on the subject. We do not realize the meaning of this PS requestbeyond the question of a possible political use, ”said Carlos Coins.
In this regard, the mayor stressed that all data and elements about the accident with the Glory Elevator is being investigated by the competent authorities and inspections, as from the first hour was requested.
“We are still totally available to clarify the Lisbon,” he said.
The request of the PS, also subscribed by free, BE and Citizens by Lisbon, for an extraordinary meeting arose following two media reports, which is concerned, in particular, the “occurrence of two previous accidents -In October 2024 and May 2025-who were publicly denied by the Chairman of the Board of Directors (CA) of Carris and the Vice-Mayor of Lisbon, but that Carris itself has now confirmed ”.
The PCP also considered that there contradictory information Regarding the determination of responsibilities about the accident with the Glory Elevator and demanded “the full clarification” by the president of the municipality, including the public tender launched in 2022, “compared to the abnormally low price presented by the company MNTC, Lda., which won the contest for the execution of maintenance works of the assignors and elevator operated by Carris”.
According to the PCP, the recent television reports testify, contrary to what was stated and guaranteed by the Mayor and the Carris CA, “the existence of evidence, including documentary, proving the presentation, at timely times, of founded alerts by carris representative organizations about a deficient elevator safety systems”, raising issues of the quality of maintenance.
Thus, the communist councilors proposed an audition from representatives of workers’ representative organizations, a new hearing from Carris CA to “clarify contradictions” regarding aspects of the maintenance process, and a hearing with members of the previous CA on the options taken in competitions prior to 2022.
