Portugal’s infrastructure minister, Pedro Nuno Santos, resigned Wednesday from his post to Prime Minister Antonio Costa after being embroiled in a controversy related to the Portuguese airline TAP.
«Faced with the public perception and collective sentiment generated around this case, the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Pedro Nuno Santos, intends, in this context, to assume political responsibility and presented his resignation to the President of the Government,» the portfolio holder announced in a statement reported by the Portuguese newspaper ‘Publico’.
After the resignation, Costa said he accepted the resignation of Nuno Santos and thanked the minister for his work during the years of government.
«I want to publicly express my gratitude for the dedication and commitment with which he has exercised government functions during these seven years, both in the areas of his direct responsibility and in the definition of the general political orientation of the Government,» reads a statement from the ‘premier’.
«I emphasize his decisive contribution to the creation of conditions for political stability as Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs and the energy with which he assumed his current functions, particularly in railway and housing policies,» the letter continues.
Costa also wanted to express his gratitude, «from a personal point of view», to the former minister, for «the companionship of these years of joint work».
This resignation follows the controversy surrounding the now former Secretary of State for Finance, Alexandra Reis, a measure that was welcomed by the Portuguese President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, because «once the clarifications were presented, it became clear that there was only one solution, which was the one that was followed».
Reis allegedly received 500,000 euros in compensation for an early dismissal – in February – from her position as executive director of the airline, since she was to perform her duties for two years. She was then appointed by the government to chair Portugal’s Air Navigation (NAV) and this month took office as secretary of state for finance.
«I have never accepted, and would immediately return if I had already been paid, any amount in relation to which I was not convinced to be anchored in strict compliance with the law,» explained Alexandra Reis, in a written statement sent to the Lusa agency, following the criticism received.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
