Lusa - Business News - Portugal: Government to recover proposal to regulate lobbies

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Lusa - Business News - Portugal: Government to recover proposal to regulate lobbies

Brussels, April.19,2024 (Lusa) - Portugal's prime minister has announced that the government will revive the proposal from the previous legislature to regulate lobbying in Portugal, noting that it is already "interacting with the parties" to "agree on lines of action" to combat corruption.
"As well as presenting our intention to interact with all the parties with parliamentary representation with a view to agreeing lines of action in the fight against corruption, a process that is already underway, the government has already begun to make these contacts," said Luís Montenegro, speaking to Portuguese journalists in Brussels.
"One of the areas in which we intend to dialogue with all the parties is precisely regulating lobbying" in the country, and this is "a proposal that appeared at the end of the last legislature, which will be taken up again now", the government official specified in statements made after his 'debut' at a two-day European Council, dedicated to foreign affairs and the competitiveness of the European economy.
When asked about his first two weeks as Executive director, Luís Montenegro said he was "expecting big challenges."
"But I'm very pleased that, in these 15 days, we're already fulfilling our programme, and we're also fulfilling all the objectives we've set ourselves," he added.
According to the new prime minister, "the government is working on several fronts".
"[On Friday] we will even hold a cabinet meeting, where we will decide on lowering taxes on Portuguese labour income in 2024. We have already started talks with some areas of the public administration that urgently need to see their careers stabilised and peace restored to their respective sectors. We are fulfilling our obligation to participate at the European level, and so, from that point of view, I think everything is going smoothly," he said.
When asked about possible controversies, Luís Montenegro acknowledged that, "of course", there are "episodes, in short, they happen every day".
"But there's nothing to deter us from our purpose, and, frankly, I believe that what the Portuguese expect of us is that we fulfil our commitments, what we promised in the election campaign. That's what deserves our concentration and our focus, and that's what we're going to work on every day," said the head of government.
Last November, as president of the PSD, Luís Montenegro promised to move forward with a project to regulate lobbying, to try to criminalise illicit enrichment again, to raise the lowest pensions and to bring the recovery of teachers' time to a vote.
In January of this year, it was announced that Portugal had dropped one position in Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index 2023, which suggested better lobbying laws.
ANE/ADB // ADB.
Lusa

Agency : LUSA
Date : 2024-04-20 10:27:00

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