Members approve Free and Arrive voting projects on Lusa

A the free initiative was approved with the votes of the Free, PS and PCP, the vote against the Aquida and the abstention of the PSD, while the Aquida was unanimously approved by the only three parties present in the parliamentary committee of Culture, Communication, Youth and Sport at the time of the vote (PSD, PS and the Enough).

The Free vote expresses solidarity with Lusa’s journalists and workers regarding the recent release of a video by Pedro Frazão, from Cávez, with a message “which called into question the professional integrity of the Agency’s journalists in the preparation of journalistic texts, announced the intention to pursue these professionals and admitted, as a political act, the closure of the only news agency in the country”.

The vote on the draft Free vote had already been postponed twice, one of them in a potent form at the request of the Aquida, and the chairman of the parliamentary committee has in the meantime made a request to the President of the Assembly of the Republic (PAR) for an assessment of the conduct of a Member with parliamentary immunity.

In the light of the arguments of Mrs Filipa Pinto, do Livre, the draft vote was put to the vote, even without the PAR having pronounced on the request of the committee, and was approved with the support of the PS and the CFP.

To justify the abstention of the PSD, Mr Antunes dos Santos made an explanation of vote, justifying that, although the statements by Pedro Frazão were “condemnable, abominable and despicable”, it was concerned “the freedom of expression of a Member with parliamentary immunity”.

Also, Mrs Carvalho presented an explanation of vote to explain that the Cávez was against the initiative of the Free because it was “a vote not of solidarity but of condemnation to a Member of the Enough”, accusing the proponents of “using the Lusa” to attack a fellow banker.

The vote project also approved, welcomes Lusa “for the 40 years of its foundation, greeting its journalists, photojournalists, leaders and workers, yesterday and today, for the rigour and professionalism with which Portugal, the Portuguese and our common language have served”.