“Cabinet felt like that this is not a Good Agreement”, PM Briceño
Prime Minister John Briceño
But, is Portico’s agreement legally binding? When reporters posed that question today to Prime Minister John Briceño, his answer was that such a determination is for the courts. Prime Minister Briceño also disputed claims that the Definitive Agreement was taken before Cabinet with a strong recommendation for approval. According to the Prime Minister, there was immediate consensus within Cabinet that the agreement would not receive its approval.
Prime Minister John Briceño
“What I was saying, when any substantive minister signs an agreement as a minister, that agreement tends to be binding. As I told you I did not see the Definitive Agreement, so I cannot comment on that agreement. I was speaking of the action of a minister. You may have policy that a minister would have to go through the committee, but that is policy. The law as what the Minister Fonseca read, on the face of it seems to be binding but until you go to court you will know if it is binding or not.”
Reporter
“March first you had said you hadn’t seen it. So, when did you see it?”
Prime Minister John Briceño
“I saw it long afterwards because other people deal with that stuff. When it was time to come to Cabinet I said this had to come to Cabinet for deliberation, whether to accept or not to accept. Immediately as the discussion started we decided we were not going to accept it and we move forward. So I cannot comment any further on what happened in Cabinet.”
Reporter
“But the recommendation contained in that Cabinet paper was for it to be accepted.”
Prime Minister John Briceño
“I will repeat, when you write a Cabinet paper that is the thing you do, ask people if they want to accept it or not. You don’t put “or not”, you just ask people if they are going to accept it. It went to Cabinet, nothing was hidden from anyone. Everyone had a copy and then we had a very short discussion because immediately Cabinet felt like that this is not a good agreement.”
