The Deputy Minister for Parliamentary Affairs believes that the former President of the Republic, Cavaco Silva, shows “sour and indignation” towards the country and defends that the attack on voluntary termination of pregnancy affects civilizational values.
These positions were laid out by Anna Catarina Mendez in an interview published this Sunday by Jornal de Notícias and TSF.
Asked about an article published this week in the Observer by former President of the Republic Cavaco Silva, in which she criticizes socialist governments led by António Costa, Ana Catarina Méndez begins by mentioning that she joined the PS “because she has was the critical opinion of politics” of the then Social Democratic Prime Minister. “The former president of the republic always speaks with a sense of bitterness and resentment towards the country. I have high hopes for the country that we have,” he counters.
Ana Catarina Mendes also criticizes the former head of state for not saying in this article what she wants for the country.
“It is limited to the fact that everything is wrong. And, therefore, there is some anger at the absolute majority” PS, he argues.
On a political level, Ana Catarina Méndez denies that her parliamentary portfolio is now empty because the Assembly of the Republic has an absolute PS majority.
“This is not an empty portfolio, firstly, because, on top of that, in the vast majority, Parliament is important and central in the oversight it exercises over the government. I have never been afraid of losing political weight, because I don’t even know very well what it is,” it says.
Ana Catarina Méndez also notes that, as deputy minister, she oversees two state secretariats “with very different areas, all of which are very important, whether in the field of sports and youth or in the field of migration and equality.”
Asked about the failed process of co-opting Almeida and Costa to the Constitutional Court, after learning that this university professor had written anti-abortion articles in the past, the minister believes that “all attacks on this achievement” of voluntary termination of pregnancy “are attacks on society and civilizational values”.
“I think this should be put on the level of human rights, on the level of our fundamental values that the Constitution preserves,” he replies.
As for the conclusions of the investigation of the General Inspectorate of Finance or the National Commission for Data Protection in the case of assistance to Ukrainian refugees in Setúbal, the minister said only that these conclusions “will come soon.”
“I will be the first to say what the next steps will be based on the findings of the investigation,” she promises.
Faced with the existence of situations of ill-treatment of Ukrainian refugees, namely in labor matters, the minister understands that the Labor Conditions Administration (ACT) “very actively checked working conditions”.
“The ACT did not inform us of any violation of working conditions. We are paying more and more attention to this because we are now responding to an emergency. But we cannot forget that Portugal has received many people over the years, be it immigrants. or refugees. And therefore, labor exploitation is also a violation of human rights,” he notes.
