The Minister of Justice, Rita Júdice, met this Friday with representatives of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the Socialist Party (PS), and Chega, as well as the People-Animals-Nature (PAN), to discuss the future efforts of the Executive in the fight against corruption.

"These were very useful conversations in which the Government heard the proposals that these parties brought for our analysis, with the identification of the topics that they consider to be the most important and the indication of where there will be greater or lesser flexibility. We are at the beginning of the conversation, but it seemed to us that there is a union in terms of purpose in the fight against corruption," said the Minister of Justice.

"I think that the 60-day deadline is not much time, but it is with this time that we will work," she admitted, before referring to just one specific matter: the regulation of lobbying activity.

After the meeting with the PS, the parliamentary leader of the socialists, Alexandra Leitão, warned of the "concerns" that the socialists have with the contours of constitutionality about some of the Government's proposals.

In response, Rita Júdice said that "constitutionality is a red line". "In the face of any measure that is presented, we will work so that it complies with the Constitution", she defended, in statements to journalists, from the Assembly of the Republic.

The minister also responded to one of Alexandra Leitão's statements after the meeting, in which the socialist parliamentary leader asked that the work of the previous Government not be "reversed", namely the transparency package that resulted in the creation of the Entity for Transparency.

"It is only now that [the Entity for Transparency] is beginning to be effective in its functions, so it is still too early to know if it is effective or not. We are paying attention, but I will not comment yet. It is one of the entities that we will consult in order to understand if it has the appropriate means to operate and what could be improved," she replied.

The minister in charge of Justice made a point of mentioning that the regulation of 'lobbying' was a "cross-cutting" issue in the different meetings this Friday. "Of the parties that we heard today, the regulation of 'lobbying' is a topic that was common to all. We are now starting the conversations, I do not want to condition the work that will be done from now on," she argued.

"A justice reform is not done in two months. There are points that need to be analyzed, such as that of procedural speed, which also touches on the issue of corruption. But our focus was to listen to the parties and try to identify points of consensus," reiterated Rita Júdice, preferring not to comment on a controversial conclusion of the Lisbon Court of Appeal, which rejected the appeal of the Public Ministry on the coercive measures of the defendants in Operation Influencer.

The minister admitted, however, that, after "meeting with the other parties" and "contacting the entities to request written contributions", she hopes to start working "within a month" to "define a strategy from there".

[News updated at 6:26 pm]

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