Rangel accuses Costa of putting the country on a waiting list

PSD Vice-President Paulo Rangel accused the prime minister on Friday of putting the country “on a waiting list” and not even being able to appoint a new health minister any time soon, saying that “the government is on the brink of bankruptcy”. .

In a lesson at the PSD Summer University, which takes place in Castelo de Vide (Portalegre) until Sunday, on the theme “Towards a new Europe”, the MEP and the first ‘deputy’ social democrat warned that Portugal in “more fragile conditions” to face the economic and social crisis ahead than other countries, accusing the current government of “incompetence and recklessness”.

“The signs of government degradation are very worrying,” he accused, citing the situation in the health sector as the first example.

For Rangel, waiting lists are one of the biggest problems in Portuguese health. The MEP criticized António Costa’s response to the resignation of Health Minister Marta Temido announced Monday, saying his replacement would not be soon.

“What is the Prime Minister doing? Putting the Health Minister on a waiting list. The Health waiting lists have been passed on to the government, we are waiting 15 days for a new minister. This is political degradation to the extreme, a Prime Minister unable to appointing a minister in time is a prime minister who is exhausted,” he said.

The PSD MEP pointed to a second example of what he sees as the downgrading of the government, citing a report in Expresso stating that the finance minister, Fernando Medina, refrained from creating the adviser post for which he had appointed former journalist Sérgio Figueiredo. , who eventually gave up the position due to public controversy.

“What is the power of the Treasury Secretary to come and say that there is no money, to be cut here or there, if he himself has created a tailor-made position for someone who has always accompanied him politically and is now the is not necessary,” he wondered, accusing Medina of not being “able to lead by example” in promoting the “artificial creation” of a position.

Paulo Rangel warned that as important as European funds are, “Europe will not come here to rule for us”.

“If the government, after five months in office, is already in this state of relegation and if we enter a very demanding period for businesses and families, we have a government that is on the verge of bankruptcy (…) The concern at the moment is that we have a government that has put Portugal on a waiting list,” he lamented.