The government has made ‘no effort’ since the start of the war in Ukraine to apply the sanctions defined by the EU, particularly with regard to the assets of Russian oligarchs, said Portugal’s Frente Cívica (Civic Front) association on Wednesday.
The non-partisan organisation dedicated to the defence of causes in the public interest published a letter on Tuesday addressed to the Portuguese prime minister, president and foreign minister, in which it states that “in the last year and a half, the Portuguese state has made no effort to remove any assets that may be hidden in Portugal from the Russian leadership.”
The Civic Front maintains that Portugal must “apply the sanctions defined by the Council of the European Union” (EU), which “oblige it to identify and freeze the assets of people and entities sanctioned in Portugal” and regrets that the recommendation made by a group of citizens in March 2022 to create a task force to apply the sanctions has not been followed.
The president and vice-president of the association who signed the letter consider that the “fact that, to date, the assets detected and frozen are apparently only financial assets, identified by the action of the financial system, confirms that no consistent and organised effort has been made to detect assets of Russian individuals and entities in Portugal”.
They added that the Portuguese state is “failing to enforce European Union sanctions” and that Portugal “continues to be a potential safe haven for assets of the Russian oligarchy in the EU and the Eurozone.”
(Francisca Matos | Lusa.pt; edited by Maria de Deus Rodrigues)
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