In Portugal it’s like this: the law says one thing, but the politicians do another. The law in Portugal is just a piece of paper to blow your nose on.
This time, a government minister and the Caixa Geral de Aposentações (CGA), with the greatest audacity, are hiding the updated values of the lifetime monthly subsidy granted to 298 former political office holders. This information should be public in any democratic state, for obvious reasons, but in Portugal it is secret and no one can know it, says the Portuguese government. And that’s it, that’s how it is, and the Portuguese swallow it over and over again, as it is now and as it will always be! The Portuguese are so meek!
This is the Portuguese “democracy”!
You just have to read the rest of this article to know the “real” reasons why they don’t want to disclose this mandatory information.
The following article is a translation (mostly MT). You can find the link to the original website at the end of it.
Minister Ana Mendes Godinho and Caixa Geral de Aposentações hide pensions from politicians
CADA’s opinion determines the updated value of lifetime pensions does not contain “reserved data” but CGA does not disclose the information. Minister guarantees that the law is being respected.
Minister Ana Mendes Godinho and Caixa Geral de Aposentações (CGA) are hiding the updated values of the monthly lifetime subsidy awarded to 298 former political office holders, reports the Correio da Manhã newspaper.
Following a complaint from a Correio da Manhã journalist, the Commission for Access to Administrative Documents (CADA), an independent body that issues non-binding opinions on access to administration documents,
declared that such information should not have the status of “reserved access ” tax. Why? Because it is social support “earned through the exercise of public functions” and which is paid with “public money”.
However, the Minister of Social Security followed the CGA’s understanding and maintained the refusal of access to such information by the media.
The position of the Minister of Social Security contrasts with the decision of her predecessor. Faced with a previous opinion from CADA, Vieira da Silva made the information available in August 2016, according to Correio da Manhã.
The CGA, to which the minister sent CADA’s opinion, argues that it can only disclose the data, which it says contains “personal data”, after the “consent of its holders”.
On the other hand, that public entity also claims that it does not have any “document containing” the names and updated amounts paid as a lifetime monthly subsidy. Such a list, concludes the CGA, will have to be created through “computer developments” that are not foreseen in the “entity’s activity plan.”
The latest available data on the list of beneficiaries and their respective values indicate the existence of 298 beneficiaries. Among them are Armando Vara and José Sócrates. The point of the updated value is fundamental in this issue because the law establishes that the value of the monthly lifetime subsidy can double when the beneficiary turns 60.
( … )
What CADA’s opinion says
However, CADA’s opinion contradicts an important part of the CGA’s interpretation of the law to hide the updated value for several reasons:
Firstly, CADA clearly establishes that information about the updated value of the monthly lifetime subsidy “is not reserved” and maintains its understanding expressed in 2016 (in opinion no. 217/2016) in which it argued that such information must be public;
Furthermore: CADA makes it clear that the law that regulates access to this documentation is the Law on Access to Administrative Documents — and not decree-law no. CGA to publish the updated value;
Therefore, “if the entity [the CGA] holds the requested information [the updated value of the monthly lifetime subsidy], the requested entity must provide it”, reads the CADA opinion.
CADA partially agreed with CGA regarding the obligation to make a list with the updated value of the pensions received by the 298 former political office holders who are the beneficiaries of such a subsidy.
All because of one of the latest changes to the law on access to administrative documents (LADA), public entities are now not obliged to create documents (a list with the updated value of the lifetime pension, in this case), “if this involves an effort that is disproportionate and goes beyond the simple manipulation of them.” The duty to create such documents was clearly allowed by the original version of LADA.
However, “by way of clarification for any future situation, if access to information regarding a specific holder is requested, the problem of making a list will certainly not arise,” “so it must be provided” information on the updated value of the pension reads the opinion.
More related news
Plus 72 million-dollar pensions. Champion is…
Former minister of Santana Lopes, Daniel Sanches, is a retired magistrate and receives more than 7,300 euros in retirement. Pensions above 5 thousand euros have grown by more than 20% since September last year.
Caixa Geral de Aposentações awarded 72 reforms above 5 thousand euros gross per month since September last year. Judges and magistrates lead the group of million-dollar reforms, with the former Minister of Internal Administration of Santana Lopes at the head. Retired from the Attorney General’s Office, after 40 years and one month of service, Daniel Sanches receives 7,316.45 euros per month.
The calculations made by the newspaper «i» took into account pensions of more than 5,030.64 euros, a value beyond which there are no annual updates in the amount of the pension.
The Government guarantees that this limit also covers the public sector, but this year 51 people started to receive pensions above this level. Of this number, eight workers receive more than 6 thousand euros.
These 11 new million-dollar reforms (compared to the 72 that were introduced in the first nine months of last year) reflect an increase of 23%.
Accompanying Daniel Sanches’ million-dollar pension are, for example, the “big-ticket” reforms of the former president of the Court of Auditors and current Ombudsman, Alfredo José de Sousa (5,663 euros), and the former president of the National Institute of Administration, Correia de Campos (5,524 euros).
Eduardo Catroga, former minister, full professor and administrator of several companies also receives a total of 9,693 euros for the roles he performed in these different areas.
More related news
Politicians’ lifetime pensions cost the State 7.3 million euros
Vasco Rocha Vieira and Carlos Melancia, both former governors of Macau, receive the highest pensions.
Lifetime pensions for former political office holders will cost 7.3 million euros in 2021.
Currently, 310 former deputies, former mayors and former judges of the Constitutional Court benefit from this lifelong pension, this news reports. the Correio da Manhã on Thursday.
Vasco Rocha Vieira and Carlos Melancia, both former governors of Macau, receive the highest pensions: 13,607 euros and 9,727 euros, respectively. António Guterres, former prime minister, has the highest subsidy among the best-known politicians: 4,138 euros per month.
This year, according to data from the Directorate-General for the Budget (DGO), expenditure on lifelong monthly subsidies will increase by more than 2.8%: that is, from 2020 to 2021, the costs of these pensions for life grew from 7.1 million euros to 7.3 million euros.
A country where criminals and the powerful are systematically protected to the detriment of victims and its citizens is the definition of a dictatorship, which is why Portugal should leave the EU.
PORTUGAL ROBBED ME €130.000 EUR AND SIX YEARS OF MY LIFE!
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