Deputy Eva Cruzeiro, from PS
Calling deputies from a parliamentary group racist and xenophobic is “inappropriate and unacceptable behavior on the part of a lady deputy”, concludes a report by the Commission of Inquiry on the case involving Eva ‘RapDiva’ Cruzeiro — whom Filipe Melo told “to go to your land”.
The Assembly of the Republic concluded that the socialist Eva Cruzeiro disrespected “fundamental duties of deputies” by calling “racists and xenophobes” to Chega parliamentarians, an “inappropriate and unacceptable behavior” that cannot be sanctioned “due to lack of legal qualification”.
These conclusions are contained in the inquiry report, to which the Lusa agency had access, approved by the Commission for Transparency and Statute of Deputies, the opening of which had been determined by the president of the Assembly of the Republic following the participation against PS deputy Eva Cruzeiro made by Chega deputy Filipe Melo, with whom the party later joined.
“Calling deputies from a certain parliamentary group ‘racists’ and ‘xenophobes’, calling them ‘you’constitutes inappropriate and unacceptable behavior on the part of a member of the Assembly of the Republic”, can be read in the text.
According to the report, under the responsibility of the deputy Hugo Carneirofrom the PSD, such are expressions that a parliamentarian “should not use” because in addition to not preserving “the dignity and credibility of the sovereign body of the Assembly of the Republic” nor “giving prestige to the parliamentary institution,” they “affect the duty of civility and respect that is owed between deputies”.
“In effect, the conduct of Mrs Eva Cruzeiro disrespects duties fundamental elements of Deputies, provided for in the Statute of Deputies and the Code of State Deputies”, he considers.
The case dates back to a plenary session at the end of October last year, which motivated the president of parliament to request the opening of an investigation.
In turn, the Chega deputy later complained that in the same hearing the PS deputy classified the party he belongs to as racist and xenophobic and reproduced these accusations on social media.
On January 27, Lusa reported that Eva Cruzeiro spoke out unavailable to be heard in person by the Transparency Commission, considering unacceptable to be personally and institutionally questioned at this hearing by Chega deputies, who accuse him of having directed racist insults.
“Despite the seriousness of the deputy’s conduct Eva Cruzeiro in calling Chega deputies ‘racists’ and ‘xenophobes’, treating them as ‘you’, the current parliamentary legal system does not provide for sanctioning mechanisms applicable to the violation of the duties of Deputies, as, moreover, has been repeatedly recognized by the President of the Assembly of the Republic”, says the report.
Like this, “it is not possible to apply any sanction” to Eva Cruzeiro “for his serious conduct that violated the duties of a deputy, due to the lack of legal and/or regulatory qualifications for that purpose”, points out the text.
“It would be desirable for the political censorship arising from the conclusions of this investigation could have some effectnamely dissuasive, on the offending deputy, at least in order to prevent her from repeating this type of behavior in the future, although the very limited scope of this route of political responsibility is recognized”, he further states.
The report recommends that Eva Cruzeiro be urged to “the need to fulfill, in the performance of her functions, the duties of deputies”, and she should “base her conduct, in the exercise of her parliamentary mandate, by respect for the dignity of the Assembly and Deputies, as well as the duties of civility and institutional loyalty”.
It is also proposed that the PS deputy be asked to don’t call again racist and xenophobic to the representatives of Chega or any other party or parliamentary group.
In November, the socialist deputy, known by her stage name Eva Rapdiva, to the President of the Assembly of the Republic to open an investigation into Filipe Melo for having shouted words that he defines as racist and xenophobic.
In a letter addressed to the President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, to which Lusa had access, the deputy refers to an incident that occurred on October 29th, during a hearing with the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, when the issue of immigration was debated.
“He shouted at me, go to your land“, says the PS deputy. An incident that, in her perspective, justified the opening of an investigation by the Parliamentary Transparency Commission into the Chega deputy.
“It is clear that the “go back to your land” that was addressed to me did not refer to the city of Lisbon, where we were and where I was born, but Africaas always happens when a black Portuguese person is attacked in this way”, indica.
In December, in another incident involving the socialist deputy and Chega’s parliamentary group, she was in the attendance register of the Constitutional Affairs Committee. In the space reserved for your name “Evita Perón” appeareddespite the deputy not being present at the meeting.
At the time, the deputy told the newspaper Expresso that she had never seen anything similar “neither during school nor nursery times”.
O PS is not the only party with outstanding complaints against Chega. The jurist and deputy Inês Souza Realfrom PAN, awaits the Assembly’s decision on the complaint made against Rita Matias and Rodrigo Taxawho will have called you .
