Informal Cabinet meeting going ahead in Monserrate palace, Sintra today
Lining up outside the picturesque Monserrate palace near Sintra, ahead of the informal meeting of his Cabinet (Council of Ministers) today, prime minister António Costa insisted his ministers are focused on the concerns of the Portuguese people; “on what matters in the lives of the Portuguese – and without wishing to diminish what worries commentators in the political space – what I feel worries people are quite different issues”.
Mr Costa refused to be drawn on the latest government ‘casualty’ – former Secretary of State for Defence Marco Capitão Ferreira in a corruption probe allegedly involving the slippage of various millions of euros and quite a bit else in between – saying justice should be “allowed to work”.
Today is for ‘other matters’. The PM said that he “walks in the street and often speaks with the Portuguese” who express concerns about fighting inflation, improving incomes, the challenges in the SNS national health service and the “enormous transformation of the Portuguese economy”.
“It is on what I feel is the fundamental concern that we have to be focused, because the Government’s job is to govern thinking about people,” he said.
Mr Costa also added that “it is fundamental to maintain the stability of policies” in order to maintain the “virtuous cycle” that he considered to be underway in the Portuguese economy.
Asked if, after a year and three months (and seemingly endless controversies), the Government was showing “some wear and tear”, the head of the executive replied that he dedicates “little of my time to political analysis and more to doing my job, which is to govern”.
Costa stressed that traditionally, at the end of the political year, the Government has “an informal meeting (like today’s) to reflect on the path travelled” and address what needs to be “done, corrected, accelerated” and “to continue to improve”.
“It is an important moment for all members of the Government to be able to speak, not only about their areas, but about all areas as a whole, and we have the debate on the State of the Nation in a fortnight’s time. It is important to prepare that debate and to start preparing for next year”, he stressed.
LUSA
