José Sena Goulão / Lusa
Former Prime Minister, Pedro Passos Coelho.
Rangel “really finds it strange” the former prime minister’s language. “It is unfair to say that there are no reforms because this Government is the most reformist in the last 30 years. After Cavaco Silva, it is the most reformist Government.”
This Monday, Paulo Rangel rejected Pedro Passos Coelho’s criticism of the Government and accused the former prime minister of giving an “unfair” and “inappropriate” reading of the action of the executive led by Luís Montenegro.
In an interview on , the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs argued that the current Government is “the most reformist in the last 30 years”, only comparable, in his opinion, to Cavaco Silva’s executives.
“It is unfair to say that there are no reforms because this Government is the most reformist in the last 30 years. After Cavaco Silva, it is the most reformist Government”, stated Rangel, in response to harsh criticism from Passos Coelho, who classified at the end of May, alongside Chega leader André Ventura, certain politicians as “”.
For the head of Portuguese diplomacy, there is in this assessment “a subjective judgment”, but also an “inappropriate” reading that “does not correspond to reality”.
“Honestly, this kind of language is very strange.”, confessed Rangel: “what is authentic and genuine always manifests itself and in a much more effective way than what is fake and then the fake is left with nothing: he is left without integrity, he remains like a prostitute without character, without a stronghold of thought, simply sold to the applause that the moment can provide”.
Confessing that he is going to “devalue the use of this tone” and that Passos “was not targeting the Government or anyone in the Government” in the comment, Rangel adds that this “way of speaking that does not even correspond to Pedro Passos Coelho’s style”: he does not want to waste time with this “less happy passage” of the former PSD leader.
Constitutional review when?
This was another of the central themes of the interview with Rangel, who returned the debate to the second half of the legislature, “either in 2027 or from 2027”, reaffirming that the Government never presented the revision of the Constitution as an immediate priority. This is not “the alpha and omega of Portuguese politics”.
The minister recalled that any constitutional change requires a two-thirds majority in Parliamentwhich requires expanded understandings. Asked about the need to involve PSD, PS and Chega, Rangel replied that the Liberal Initiative may also be necessary, depending on the political framework.
Even so, Rangel left a guarantee: “The PSD is a guarantee that the principles of the Constitution, which are fundamental principles, will not be at stake.”
