The issue is, once and for all, put to bed: declarations of income are a must and will include CGD’s administrators
Parties made a point to repeat the voting – already done in the specialized committee – in the plenary session. It is now confirmed: public managers, including the CGD, must declare their income.
There is no doubt now: the income and patrimony declarations of the administrators of Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) do need to be handed in to the Constitutional Court. Sooner or later, António Domingues, CGD’s chairman, will have to comply with what both the opposition parties and the government’s left-wing support have been demanding. The proposal made by the Social Democratic Party (PSD), in which CGD was to be re-included in the Public Manager Statute, was approved this Friday in the plenary session. The PSD, the CDS (Democratic and Social Centre Party – People’s Party) and the BE (Left Block) voted in favor of the proposal.
The voting on that individual section of the 2017SB was held yesterday on the committee for the Budget and Finance; however, parties made a point to callback the subject on the plenary session and repeat the voting today. After a much heated discussion – that led Ferro Rodrigues, president of the Parliament, to threaten to call-off the session –, parties made the same choice as in the day before.
The proposal was approved by the right-wing, supported by the Left Block; the People-Animals-Nature party (PAN) abstained; the Socialist Party (PS) and the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) voted against the proposal. As for the proposal of changes regarding the limits on public managers’ salaries, it has seen failure.
Approving the proposal means there are no doubts: CGD’s administrators must hand in their declarations of income and patrimony to the Constitutional Court, since even the Government had understood it was the Public Manager Statute that imposed that requirement – which is why they took the CGD from that regime.
This means, either both António Domingues and his team comply with their transparency duty to the Constitutional Court’s judges until December 9, or, in case they appeal against the decision, they will end up having to do so on the first of January 2017, since it is when the change now inscribed in the 2017 State Budget comes into effect.
