António Costa maintained today that political action cannot be delegated to any technical competence, arguing that it must be preserved, and left a “word of confidence” to investors in the country.
The Prime Minister was responding to journalists after his statement to the country, at the official residence of São Bento, in Lisbon, in which he highlighted that in a decision-making process on an investment project, each technical entity has a role, with the Government being responsible for “articulating different positions.”
Giving the example of Sines, António Costa highlighted that the role of an executive is to see how to simultaneously maximize the use of the port and make the most of the industrial area, “without sacrificing environmental values”.
“And this means political action, it is not an action that can be delegated to any technical competence, because technicians are responsible for making their own assessment. Political action must be preserved”, he stressed.
António Costa, who resigned as Prime Minister on Tuesday, considered it important to highlight the importance of freedom of political action at the moment he leaves office and at a time when “no one knows who the next Government will be and whose will be ”, with legislative elections scheduled for March 10th by the President of the Republic.
“To justice what belongs to justice, and to politics what belongs to politics also means that the future Governments of Portugal, whoever the Prime Ministers may be and whoever their members may be, freedom of expression must be guaranteed. political action to pursue a legitimate action, as soon as it is approved by the Portuguese on March 10th”, he stressed.
Costa said he had noticed, in recent days, that “in addition to specific cases”, which he did not want to mention, “a very dangerous idea” is being assumed in the media.
“The idea that governments should not act to attract investment, that they should not act to solve problems that arise in the execution of investments, that they should not act to simplify bureaucratic processes and I think these are dangerous ideas for the future of the country” , he warned.
The Prime Minister also considered it necessary to “give a word of confidence to those who have decided to invest in Portugal, to those who have planned to invest in Portugal and tell them with confidence that they do not have to be afraid of investing in Portugal”.
“Because we are a State of Law where the law is respected but where we create conditions to attract and welcome investment”, he stated.
Costa also left a word to the different Public Administration bodies, warning that “the law is not fulfilled in the paralysis of the decision, it is fulfilled in the rigor of the decision”.
“That's what I want to say to everyone who serves the Portuguese public administration, is that your Prime Minister, as the first person responsible for the Public Administration, tells you to have confidence in yourself, to have confidence in your ability to apply demanding the law, don't protect yourself with bureaucracy where we can have greater simplicity, have confidence and don't be afraid to decide, because that is the role that we all have and we are naturally responsible for the actions that each one performs”, he maintained.
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