“There is, objectively, a political responsibility that has to be assumed”PS councilor Pedro Anastácio told the Lusa agency, defending the dismissal of Filipe Anacoreta Correia, who oversees Carrisand remembering that the CDS-PP mayor said, days after the accident with the Glória elevator, that if there was someone to assume political responsibility would be him and not the mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas (PSD).
The derailment of the Glória elevator, under the management of the municipal company Carris, occurred on September 3rd and caused 16 deaths and two dozen injuries, between Portuguese and foreigners of various nationalities.
Regardless of the PS’s resignation, Filipe Anacoreta Correia will leave the municipal executive at the end of the current term, since he was not part of the candidate lists for the municipal elections on October 12th, which culminated in the re-election of Carlos Moedas.
At an extraordinary meeting of the municipal executive, held today, socialist Pedro Anastácio formalized an exceptional request for the accident with the Glória elevator to be addressed, following the preliminary report of the Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Aircraft Accidents and Railway Accidents (GPIAAF), released on Monday.
In this context, the PS councilor reinforced that the current board of directors of the municipal company Carris “cannot maintain itself one more day, because in addition to the flaws that are known today and that must be fully assumed, they work daily to prepare their defense in legal proceedings that they anticipate, rather than the pursuit of political interests”.
Moments later, the Lisbon City Council revealed, in a statement, that the president of Carris, Pedro de Brito Bogas, had resigned from his position, a resignation that extends to all other members of the board of directors, and which was accepted by the president of the municipality.
The resignation does not have immediate effect, which for PS councilor Pedro Anastácio is a cause for concern, because this could result in the board of directors remaining in office “for a long period”.
Questioning when the Carris administration will leave office, Pedro Anastácio also criticized the “culture of irresponsibility” on the part of the PSD/CDS-PP leadership in the Lisbon City Council.
Referring to the information provided on Tuesday by SIC, citing a source close to Carlos Moedas, that the mayor of Lisbon would not reappoint the current administration of Carris, the socialist stressed that “it would never be reappointed”, because the opposition would vote against it.
Currently, the administration of Carris is chaired by Pedro de Brito Bogas, after an appointment approved by the Lisbon City Council in May 2022, to replace Tiago Farias, who had held the position since 2016.
At today’s extraordinary chamber meeting, PCP councilors requested further clarification on the Glória elevator tragedy, followed by the preliminary report, with questions formalized in a request addressed to Carlos Moedas, who was absent from the session.
The PCP’s questions are about the guidelines and respective calendar for Carris to comply with the recommendations of the preliminary report of the GPIAAF and what is expected regarding the review of the contractual relationship with the company providing maintenance services, as well as the status of the internal and external audit initiated by Carris following the Glória elevator accident.
For this purpose, the councilors of Citizens for Lisbon (elected by the PS/Livre coalition) criticized “the constant passing of blame to hide responsibilities” and stated that, based on the GPIAAF’s preliminary report, “after all, what was repeated over and over — that everything had been done according to the rules and everything scrupulously complied with — is not true”.
“It is necessary, and urgently, to regain trust in Carris, in public transport. The population that uses transport and mobility structures needs to know that they are safe in a vehicle, get home safe from maintenance failures”, argued Citizens for Lisbon.
For the Livre council, the resignation of Carris’ management was “expected”, as a result of the GPIAAF report, for “reasons of a technical nature and resulting from company management decisions”, but “they continue to assume political responsibilities”.
“Portugal has to decide whether it is a country where only technical responsibilities are determined and in which any mayor or political decision-maker will outsource services or decisions to protect themselves from political responsibilities. […] Political responsibilities must, above all, be assumed by those who have themthere is no need for someone to charge them. In this sense, someone must reflect on whether they exercised their functions politically with zeal”, defended Livre.
The post Elevador da Glória: PS demands resignation of vice-president of Lisbon City Council appeared first on Veritas News.
