Lisbon, Feb. 11, 2026 (Lusa) - The Portuguese Minister of Agriculture on Wednesday stood by statements he made in a video in January about the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests and said that everything he said "is in the Constitution".
José Manuel Fernandes was heard today at a joint hearing of the parliamentary committees on Agriculture and Fisheries and Environment and Energy, regarding a video he addressed to the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) leaders in January and statements he made afterwards.
At the time, the minister sent a video to a meeting of ICNF leaders in which he said that if the law does not allow something to be done, one must ask whether it should allow it and, if so, whether that law should be changed.
Following the controversy over the matter, which began with a news report about the video in a newspaper, the minister accused members of the institute, "half a dozen or less" as he said several times today, of being "liars", “cowards” and "radicals".
In this regard, the parliamentary groups of the Socialists (PS), left wing Livre and the sole People-Animals-Nature MP, Inês Sousa Real, wanted to hear from the minister, considering that he should retract his statements, with the MP saying that it was "an attack on the honour, dignity and integrity of public leaders".
The minister responded by advising the MP to read the annotated Constitution by Gomes Canotilho and Vital Moreira, explaining: "everything I say in the video is in the Constitution". He cited several articles to explain that everything he asks for in the video is in accordance with the constitution and the code of administrative procedure.
The accusations of cowardice and lying, he said, arose because they were misrepresented.
He also reminded the MPs that he is not responsible for nature conservation or biodiversity, but gave several examples at the hearing of how he has defended the protection of nature and biodiversity, also saying that "environmental protection is not an absolute value".
Jorge Pinto, from the Livre Party, said that the video was offensive and that subsequent statements added insult to injury. He asked who the "deadbeats" (a term also used by the minister) of the ICNF were, since only 13% of environmental impact assessment reports are negative.
"I cannot explain myself to anonymous leaders," José Manuel Fernandes replied, adding that if any minister asks any leader to do something contrary to the law, that leader should report it, reaffirming that what he said in the video is in accordance with the Constitution and the law.
José Manuel Fernandes spoke of the need to change some legislation on the felling of cork oaks in urban areas, some of which was even requested by the ICNF, considering that "to remove half a dozen cork oaks" on land being developed for housing, one has to wait "six months" (for a decision), which he described as "an enormity".
Luís Graça, from the PS, insisted that the minister had undermined a service (ICNF), and José Manuel Fernandes responded with decisions that socialist governments should have taken and pointed out another necessary change, which is to prevent photovoltaic panels on agricultural land, and said that when he talks about ICNF leaders he is not talking about the institution, and denied that he had ever questioned the institute's independence.
Amid much discussion, asides and political accusations, the minister said that the video in question was applauded by the vast majority of ICNF leaders, and that he finds it difficult to see any interpretation other than exactly what he said.
"How is it possible for someone to misrepresent it in that way, saying that I asked to relativise the law and to change the law if the plans did not fit there, forgetting that these plans are not even within my remit," he said.
He then replied that he believed that "there are people who want to overturn the rule of law and think that it is the administration that rules the government" and that the main objective of the falsehood (the interpretation of the video) was to condition the government not to do "what must be done".
In the more than two hours of debate, there was still time for many accusations, to talk about nature and climate change, for everyone to show solidarity with the victims of bad weather and to debate the importance or otherwise of the Girabolhos dam, which, according to the minister, if it had not been rejected 10 years ago, would today prevent flooding in the river Mondego.
FP/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
