João Galamba refuses to resign

Portugal’s minister for infrastructure, João Galamba, guaranteed in parliament today that he will not resign after being made an official suspect in the case involving lithium and hydrogen deals – which already saw PM António Costa resign.

João Galamba was speakingat a joint parliamentary hearing between the budget and finance committee (COF) and the economy, public works, planning and housing committee, as part of the assessment of the 2024 State Budget bill (OE2024), hours after the prime minister said he would discuss the minister’s continuation with the country’s president.

“Are you asking me if I intend to resign? No, I don’t intend to,” said João Galamba, in response to Social Democrat MP Paulo Moniz.

The minister for infrastructures said that the formation of the government is “always the responsibility of the prime minister” and guaranteed that he was in parliament to defend the budget proposal.

“It’s the government’s budget and I’m going to defend it,” he said.

Paulo Moniz questioned the minister on whether, given the circumstances, he would resign and what steps “he would take on important ongoing infrastructure projects”.

After João Galamba backed away from resigning, the Social Democrat MP asked the minister the same question again, who reiterated that he is in parliament” debating the budget”.

“Respecting institutions means talking about the budget. That’s what I intend to do. You don’t want to, you haven’t asked a single question about the budget bill,” he accused.

In his opening speech, the minister had already emphasised that he would “of course” be available “for any clarification on the budget bill”.

Source: LUSA