PS Socialists convened an urgent parliamentary hearing today with Minister for Housing and Infrastructure Miguel Pinto Luz to clarify suspicions of a conflict of interest surrounding the approval of the new RJUE (Legal Framework for Urbanisation and Construction) – alleging that the minister may have benefited from the proposed amendments.
The minister has accused the Socialists of “exploiting the case for political gain”.
In his opening statement before the Committee on Infrastructure, Mobility and Housing, Pinto Luz said: “I am here because I wanted to be here and I asked to be heard as a matter of urgency; I have nothing to hide.”
The minister did not, however, hide his indignation “at the flippancy with which extremely serious accusations are made and a person’s good name is called into question”.
What is at stake?
According to Sábado (which is the reason why the PS called Pinto Luz to the hearing), the new RHUE has shortened time limits for challenging planning permissions – thereby potentially preventing any challenges to decisions taken by Pinto Luz when he was deputy mayor of Cascais.
Among cases mentioned is that of the Hilton hotel, situated between Carcavelos and Parede, which has been placed under a construction freeze by the Public Prosecutor’s Office – which is actually demanding that upper floors already constructed, and reportedly purchased at great expense, should be demolished.
Pinto Luz however stresses that the insinuation that he may have been involved in legislation giving him a free pass from flawed decision making is both “false” and is “deeply offensive”.
The PSD, CDS-PP and IL paries have joined criticism of the PS ‘forcing a hearing based on a news report’, with Social Democrats calling on Socialist leader José Luís Carneiro to “reign in his parliamentary group and apologise to the minister”.
Pinto Luz assures that he will accept “responsibility” if anything is proven.
But Socialist MP Miguel Costa Matos seems convinced that Pinto Luz “granted himself amnesty; he shamelessly legislated for his own benefit”, saying that his party will table “a legislative initiative to rectify the situation, and ensure full scrutiny of the urban development projects granted amnesty under the (new) RJUE”.
At issue, in particular, is the new urban regeneration scheme, approved by the government in May via Decree-Law No. 108/2026, which reduced the time limit for the Public Prosecutor’s Office and/ or citizens’ groups to challenge certain local authority decisions on town planning in court from 10 to three years. The change has raised questions about its potential implications for cases relating to decisions taken by Pinto Luz whilst he was deputy mayor of Cascais, a post he held between 2011 and January 2024.
On leaving the committee, Pinto Luz did not answer journalists’ questions about the current climate of social tension arising from demonstrations in defence of the right to housing, which have brought thousands of people onto the streets in various cities across the country, adds Lusa – and which have brought calls for investigation into police actions that resulted in dozens of civilian injuries.
Source: SIC Notícias/ Lusa
Natasha Donn
Journalist for the Portugal Resident.