José Pedro Aguirre-Franco, the president of the Republic’s Assembly, said this Friday that he refuses to be a censor and limit the freedom of expression of representatives, a move contested by the PS, BE and Livre and strongly welcomed. Sega’s Bench.
The situation arose after the incident, which began with the intervention of SEGA president Andre Ventura in a departmental discussion with the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, who, when questioned about the ten years planned for the construction of the new airport, said: “We can be much better than the Turks, the Chinese, the Albanians, and in five years we have a There will be an airport.”
“Istanbul Airport was built and operational in five years, Turks are not exactly known as the hardest workers in the world”, Ventura said, amid protests from several benches, Aguirre-Franco asked them to leave. It continues his intervention because “the partner is free to express himself”.
Immediately, Fabian Figueiredo, the parliamentary leader of the BE, apologized to the Turkish ambassador, arguing that “a people should not be allowed room for characterizations and stereotypes in the democratic debate of the Assembly of the Republic.”
In his reply, the President disagreed with this view.
“I don’t agree because democratic debate is about expressing exactly how everyone wants to do it. According to the Speaker, work is being done to ensure free expression of all representatives. It has nothing to do with what I think personally, I will not censor any representatives,” he said.
Alexandra Leitão, the PS’s parliamentary leader, questioned “if a certain group says that a certain race or ethnicity is dumb or lazy, that’s okay too.”
“In my opinion, it can. Freedom of expression is constitutional. The assessment of political speech here in this House will be done by the people at the polls,” replied the President.
Aguiar-Branco proposed that “if anyone feels that the intervention of the representatives should be censored, they appeal against the decision of the president of the assembly.”
“Then the plenary will audit, it won’t be me”, he said.
Isabel Mendes Lopes, Livre’s parliamentary leader, asked to speak to emphasize that “racism is a crime” and that what is said in parliament “has direct consequences on people’s lives”.
“I will not pursue this topic, the legislature has plenty of regulatory mechanisms to express its opinion. One thing can be certain, I will never limit the freedom of expression”, said Aguiar-Branco. Applause from Sega’s bench.
Earlier, Ventura had already steered clear of the topic of debate, criticizing the Republican Assembly’s lighting of its facade this evening to mark National Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, saying “Parliament is being hijacked by woke language.”
“I really regret that all the parties have adopted this logic,” Andre Ventura criticized, while CDS-PP’s parliamentary leader Paulo Núncio signaled that his party was also against this decision of parliament.
From Thursday night until today, the facade of the São Bento Palace was illuminated with a rainbow flag to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI) and to symbolize the fight against prejudice.
On May 17, the International Day to Combat Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia is celebrated, which aims to value equality between people regardless of sexual orientation and raise awareness of discrimination against LGBTI people.
Ventura said today is World Hypertension Day and it was not mentioned by Parliament.
“We had an Ex-Combatants Day and I didn’t see this facade lit up, not by health professionals or security forces”, he said.
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