Welcome to the Official page of the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic

The Presidency of the Republic publishes the following informative note:

More than once, in the last few days, the media has published news stating that the President of the Republic, on the 25th of this current month, during his visit to the AvePark, in Guimarães, had made statements concerning a legal procedure in respect of some prior directors of the BCP Bank. This is completely untrue as can anyway be checked in the video recording of the statements then delivered by the President of the Republic, shown on the site of the Presidency of the Republic www.presidencia.pt.

After answering a question relating to a possible transaction between PT (Portugal Telecom) and TVI (a TV channel), a reporter asked the President of the Republic’s opinion on Portuguese banks.

The President of the Republic limited his answer to the importance of the stability of the financial system for economic growth and to the meetings of the Council of Europe and of the G20, in London, on the stability of the international financial system. Nothing else was mentioned, as proven by the video which recorded the statements of the President of the Republic:

The relevant parts of the President of the Republic’s statement are fully transcribed as follows:

“
PR :(…) It is very important that those responsible for the telecommunications company explain to the Portuguese what is exactly taking place between PT and TVI. It is an issue of transparency! And I have already had the occasion to state publicly that one of the most important lessons which must be learnt from this economic and financial crisis which we are going through is that transparency and ethics must be the basis of any transaction. And, at this time, I have no more to say.”

Reporter: The history of BCP… do you not fear, whilst President of the Republic, that the Portuguese…, that this is a discredit for the banking system and they will stop believing in the Banks?

PR: Banks are extremely important for the running of an economy. The most renowned economists state that there is no economic growth without stability in the financial system, and, justly for this reason, the G20 meeting, which was held in London – and I recently had the opportunity to discuss the results with Prime Minister Gordon Brown – or the recent decisions of the Council of Europe, are in the sense of providing guarantees for the stability of the international financial system, since this is a condition for the recovery of confidence. Confidence of entrepreneurs, confidence of consumers in order that we may witness a stronger economic recovery. It is thus my belief that nothing must hinder these measures, which are being internationally announced to stabilize the financial system, and, once again, the fundamental principles which were breached in this crisis have arisen, and these must again be replaced: transparency and principles and ethical values in the business world”

Palace of Belém, 29 June 2009