The republic’s president said on Wednesday evening he wanted to leave “closeness to the people” as a legacy of his mandate, admitting that this sometimes came with the risk of “undesirable” competition with populists.
“If I manage to reach the end of the term after achieving this objective, I may not have achieved other objectives, but this one has been achieved. I hope that my successors do not lose this one and, in what I have failed, do she is doing much better than me”, he wished.
In an intervention by the PSD Summer University, it was only after more than two hours that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa agreed to deviate from the one theme he had defined for the dinner conference, Ukraine.
Because we had avoided other national issues, such as housing problems, the question was even posed imaginatively: “Imagine being the president of Ukraine, with a prime minister like António Costa and a reforming opposition leader like Luís Montenegro. Imagine being in the middle of your tenure, what legacy will you leave for future generations, how would you like to be remembered? ? “.
This time, the President of the Republic considered the question “very easy to answer” and rejected the Ukrainian metaphor.
“What I’d like to put behind me is I think I’ve been a close president,” he described.
The head of state believed that the big problem for politicians is the “disengagement of people,” and said he had done “everything possible to respond to this break, to this withdrawal.”
“To have sought closeness under all circumstances, sometimes with risks, such as the risk, in order to be close to the people, to come into competition with so-called populist forces, a competition that is not wanted, desirable or desired.” he said, justifying the need to be the first to appear, whether it be a fire, an accident or a problem registered in the public administration.
On his tenth participation in the PSD Summer University – the first in person since he became President of the Republic – the director of the initiative, MEP Carlos Coelho, considered him one of the souls of the political training academy and toasted a film by his previous participations, the first in 2005.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa justified his presence in Castelo de Vide by considering that his previous interventions as head of state – in writing in 2018 and last year via video – were “a very cold thing”.
Also, the only topic he wanted to talk about – Ukraine – justified his presence, he defended, even trying to discuss this topic in “numerous youth meetings” and trying to convey his experience in the country where he was last week.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stressed that Portugal is “the country in Europe where there is the most support for Ukraine” and wanted to make it clear that he never fed Russophobia, as he considered it “nonsense” to try to leave out Russian culture.
“That doesn’t exist, that’s nonsense and anyone who thinks like that loses part of their mind. It’s a stupid way to defend a case,” he said.
In a lengthy first intervention, he attempted to present a “prehistory of war,” including the annexation of Crimea and former President Donald Trump’s responsibilities in increasing the influence of the Russian Federation, and praised the capacity for resistance of the Ukrainian people. and leadership of President Zelensky.
The President of the Republic also praised the European Union’s ability to act united in this war – “if it is divided, it has lost its role in the world” – and on whether the country would benefit from a Portuguese head of the European Council replied in a general way.
“If Portugal wins by getting a Portuguese in key positions in the organization of the world? That win seems obvious,” he said, without dwelling on the subject, in a question that seemed to be aimed at the future from Prime Minister Antonio. Coast.
Source: DN
