Paulo Portas: “Costa cannot restrict people and allow the PCP congress,...

This Sunday, in the weekly comment space “Global”, Paulo Portas criticized the work of the Government of António Costa in containing the pandemic, accusing the Prime Minister of undermining the “Credibility of solutions” with the application of “Exceptions”.

The TVI commentator also disapproved of the chief executive’s attitude of allowing the PCP congress to take place, at a time when strong restrictions are required on Portuguese citizens, falling at the risk of giving the idea that the political class is “A caste apart”.

Paulo Portas admits, however, that the situation that the country is going through is complex and that the decree of the state of emergency is really the only possible solution to contain the number of contagions, at a time when Portugal is approaching the seven thousand new cases of covid-19 daily.

I am in favor of the state of emergency because, as the Abbot would say: “President, I see no remedy”. I don’t see how it is possible to break the chain of contagion without a state of emergency. But I always get the feeling that we are running after the loss and that we are always in the middle of the bridge ”he explained.

The historical leader of the CDS-PP considered just some criticisms that were being made to the Government for the way it has managed the pandemic crisis and that “The problem didn’t start yesterday”, after it was revealed that the “R” of covid-19 in Portugal has been above 1 for more than 80 days.

For the commentator, the winter plan carried out by the Government did not take into account scientific “evidence” and that the executive still has no idea what the main contagion focus is.

“After nine months, the Portuguese State has no idea what the contagion centers are. He doesn’t know if it is at school, if it is public transport, if it is work, if it is the family, if it is commerce, he has no idea ”, he stressed.

For the commentator, António Costa made a “little juggling” when referring to a 1986 law to justify the Government’s impossibility to ban the congress of the Portuguese Communist Party. The former defense minister stressed that the ban is in the law and not in the constitution and, as such, it is easier to change.

If the prime minister wants to be obeyed, he has to realize that people cannot be restricted in their professional life, in their income, in their ability to sell, and then politics is a separate caste ”he explained.

European Economic Recovery Fund

Europe is experiencing moments of great impasse after Hungary and Poland vetoed the Economic Recovery Fund, also known as the “Economic bazooka”, to respond to the economic impact that the restrictions imposed to contain the pandemic had on the economy.

The decision taken by these two countries, to which Slovakia has joined, is justified by challenging the European mechanism that sanctions members who do not guarantee respect for the rule of law.

For countries like Portugal, these funds are absolutely crucial, especially the non-repayable subsidies. If there is no consensus by the end of the year, the funds will not reach Portugal until the third quarter of 2021 ”he explained.

Paulo Portas considered it important for the European Union to ensure compliance with human rights, but says that this control should be done by the Court of Justice of the European Union and not by political bodies.

The commentator considers that one of the goals of the Hungarian leader is to provoke a certain “humiliation” the presidency of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose asset was the agreement for the Recovery Fund.

Regarding a possible solution to the impasse, Portas revealed that, legally, it is very difficult to move forward without the support of Hungary and Poland, since it sets a serious precedent that could lead other countries to think “What if one day this happens to my country?”.

He also underlined the economic resilience of these two countries, which have very small debts, which means that they have greater margins for “to endure” the worsening of the economic situation, unlike Portugal, which is approaching historic highs.

Paulo Portas also warns that, if nothing is done, Portugal is among the group of countries that “grows less ”, since it ranks 23rd in the ranking of economic recovery, in a universe of 28 countries.

Portugal will lose at least two years if nothing is changed. In 2022, we will still be 99% of what we had in 2019, accompanied by France, Spain and Italy. But there are already 19 countries that, for the year, will already be above the base of 2019 ”he explained.

There was still time to talk about the competition between Moderna and Pfizer in the search for a vaccine for covid-19.