Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho has just announced, in his communication to the country made from S. Bento, that his government will not resign, despite the resignation of Paulo Portas, Minister of State and Foreign Affairs and leader of the CDS/PP; known this afternoon.
«I don't resign! I don't leave my country. I embrace, as I have always embraced, the service to my country with the same dedication and with the same hope», said Passos Coelho, in a statement made at the official residence in São Bento.
"I have to express my surprise" at Portas' resignation, said the prime minister.
“We need clarity. This means that I assume the mission of clarifying all the conditions of political support with the parties that support the Government as my own", he said.
"In the next few hours I will seek with the CDS/PP to clarify and guarantee all the conditions of governability for the country", added Passos Coelho.
The prime minister also said that it would be "hasty to accept this resignation" of his coalition partner, and for that reason he did not ask for his "exoneration to the President of the Republic". “It doesn't just depend on my will to definitively resolve this problem, but both parties have the obligation not to disappoint the country. Together, we will have to clarify the meaning of the resignation of the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs in the broadest possible context: in the context of our common project and the dangers we have managed to avoid».
"A coalition government that enjoys the support of a strong majority of the people's representatives cannot be called into question," said Passos Coelho, thus throwing the responsibility for a possible fall of his office to the Assembly of the Republic.
At the beginning of his statement, Passos also stated that an eventual dismissal "would be two years of great effort by everyone, sacrifices that all families know, lying on the ground."
The reason for the resignation of Portas is the choice of Maria Luís Albuquerque to replace Vítor Gaspar, at the Ministry of Finance.
This afternoon, the President of the Republic had already said that it would not be on his initiative that the Government would be dismissed, urging parties with parliamentary seats to present a Motion of Censorship.
However, this afternoon, before his communication to the country, Passos Coelho presided over an extraordinary Council of Ministers, which did not have the presence of Portas, but which included the two ministers of the CDS/PP, Assunção Cristas and Pedro Mota Soares.
Comments