The President of the Republic defended this Saturday that precautionary measures should be taken in cases of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and that this includes “removing from the exercise of functions or pastoral responsibilities who should be removed”.
“I understand that it is such an obvious issue, so obvious, such an obvious issue of prevention and taking precautionary measures, to safeguard possible new victims and to safeguard those eventually involved, that I think that a careful reflection will lead to doing what in a first moment , in my view, incomprehensibly, it was not done”, said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
In Gondomar, in the Porto district, on the sidelines of the Extraordinary Congress of the Portuguese Firefighters League, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa defended, in statements to journalists, that “there are things that have to be done and the sooner the better”
“It was said by the Episcopal Conference that the reflection continues. By continuing, reflection must mean paving the way for what has been done and could be done in another way”, he said.
Asked about decisions by some dioceses not to remove priests referred to as suspected of having sexually abused minors, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa did not respond to specific cases or specify which dioceses he was referring to, but reiterated that those with responsibilities should be removed.
For the President of the Republic, the first immediate measure is “not to take more time on everything that cannot be wasted”. The second is “take full responsibility. Third, to take preventive measures, which means removing from the exercise of functions or pastoral responsibilities those who must be removed by these preventive measures and showing the will to repair the victims, ”he added.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa also showed concerns about the future: “It is evident that concern about the future must exist because it is a national problem”, he concluded.
TAP: rapid privatization
The President of the Republic also expressed the conviction that the privatization of TAP will have interested parties, a process that he wants to have an outcome “in the shortest possible time”.
Considering that “TAP’s privatization process is very important”, the President regretted that the covid-19 pandemic did not allow it to close in 2020, which is why he wants to see it closed quickly.
“I’ve always thought that the main objective of restructuring is to prepare for privatization. I am convinced that there will be interested parties. I am not an excessive optimist, but I think that what unfortunately was not possible to close in March 2020 because of the pandemic, may be feasible to close in the shortest possible time”, he said.
The President of the Republic was questioned about news advanced this morning that the former CEO of TAP, Christine Ourmières-Widener, is preparing to demand more than three million euros in compensation for the payment of wages and a bonus to which she would be entitled until at the end of the contract, but did not respond specifically to this matter, opting instead to emphasize the need to close the privatization process.
“It is very important for Portugal and for the Portuguese who have contributed their money over so many years, the end of a process that should end quickly”, he concluded.
“Very fair” to monitor prices
The President also considered that “it is very fair” to monitor possible “excessive use” in prices of basic products and that, as for the rest, “it is necessary to know in detail” the measures proposed by the Government.
“In relation to excessive and unjustified use in all products, especially in basic means, this is very fair. For the rest, it is necessary to know the ideas in detail”, said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
“The most important thing is to have the notion that it is not legitimate that, in addition to what there is in inflation caused by external costs and internal consequences, there are those who take advantage of it for speculative purposes. This must be controlled and monitored. This is a concern that even the Government has already stated,” he said.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that everyone “expects and needs” that there is a recovery in growth, but recalled that “this depends a lot on what happens in the world and in Europe”.
According to the Expresso piece, if the prices of essential food products do not fall in the coming weeks, the Government will act.
The weekly writes that the executive is currently studying various measures and does not exclude, for example, coming to fix — even if exceptionally and on a temporary basis — a limit on the profit margins of producers, industrialists and distributors.