Deputies to the Committee on Economy, Innovation, Public Works and Housing approved on Monday a report on the hearing of Anna Paola Vitorino, the candidate to take over the presidency of the Transport and Communications Authority.
The report was approved with votes in favor of the Socialist Party, with abstentions from the Left Bloc and the Progressive Party, and opposed by the Public Security Directorate, the People’s Democratic Party, and the Community Development Council.
During the vote, MP Carlos Silva, of the PSD, who had been appointed rapporteur for this work, but ended up asking for an excuse, for not agreeing to the changes to the document, once again criticized the previous appointment. The Minister of the Seas took the position, saying it was “rocambolesque and strange”. The report ended with the responsibility of the Socialist Party deputy, Hugo Costa.
During Anna Paola Vitorino’s hearing, which took place on July 1, the former minister dismissed that she might be “lack of exemption” for the position of AMT president.
As the person appointed to lead the regulator, Anna Paola Vitorino was heard in the Committee on Economics, Innovation, Public Works and Housing and ensured that through her previous functions in government, deputy and other activities she had undertaken, “there is no conflict or impediment” to his appointment as head of the AMT.
“With regard to impartiality, independence and transparency,” Anna Paola Vitorino recalled the opinion of the CReSAP Public Administration Recruitment and Selection Committee, which considered it appropriate for the job, after assessing these issues.
“I didn’t work in the areas that would be regulated,” asserted Anna Paola Vitorino, who was also Secretary of State for Transport, between 2005 and 2009.
I am reputable, law-abiding, exempt and free. I have no partisan obedience,” she asserted, in the face of MPs who asked her about her connection to the PS Government and family connections.
“I have already been accused of not giving in to pressure, I have been greatly hurt because I stubbornly defended the public interest, and harmed private interests,” she stressed, stressing that “AMT does not have political powers.”
As for family ties, Ana Paola Vitorino criticized the deputy director of the PSD, Carlos Silva. “As a woman, I do not accept here or anywhere that jeopardizes my ability and independence to live with anyone [com o ministro da Administração Interna, Eduardo Cabrita]’, wrinkle.
He criticized “this so-called machismo and misogyny”, noting that he had never recognized “the moral protection of anyone”. “I think through my head, as most women in the country do,” she concluded.
In response, Carlos Silva said he was not questioning gender issues or family relations, but “how does AMT protect when hundreds and hundreds of millions of euros are dealt with in the Cabinet” and in the same body “there is someone who has family ties” with Ana Paula Vittorino.
As for her priorities for AMT, Anna Paola Vitorino advocated a “more modern view of regulation,” calling for “competition as a means of better service” to citizens.
“You have to accept competition if the aim is to improve the quality of service and not in the purely economic sense,” he explained. Anna Paola Vitorino concluded her audition by declaring that her political career was “over”.
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