The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, praised Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues this Monday, describing him as “a good man” and “very honest”, and thanking him for the friendship between the two, which began when he was 70 years old . .
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was the last to speak at the presentation of Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues’ book “Assim Vejo a Minha Vida — Memórias”, at the Centro Cultural de Belém, in Lisbon, before an audience of friends and “comrades in arms” of the former President of the Assembly of the Republic.
‘But that has been my fate for about eight years: always surrounded by other people’s comrades. And apparently that can take up to ten years. [anos]”the head of state remarked, causing laughter in the room, where the Prime Minister and PS Secretary General António Costa also sat in the front row.
In his intervention, the President of the Republic left politics aside and focused on friendship, which, he argued, is “more important than everything else” in life.
“My case is very strange, because we have been friends and good friends since I was 70 years old. It is not ordinary”he emphasized.
The head of state said that he disagreed with the former President of the Assembly of the Republic several times, although during coexistence between sovereign bodies they agreed even more than he expected.
“More important than tuning in, not tuning in, agreeing, disagreeing, is actually friendship, and for me it is a great honor that Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues is my friend. Thank you”he added.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa took over as head of state in 2016, while Ferro Rodrigues presided over the Assembly of the Republic between 2015 and 2022, after supporting his re-candidacy in the January 2021 presidential elections.
According to the President of the Republic, institutional coexistence has been established “an empathy that grew”and the friendship began precisely “on March 19, 2018”, when the former Secretary General of the PS told him that he had a serious health problem.
That evening, after taking part in an initiative of the Portuguese Football Federation, the three of them, plus Ferro Rodrigues’ wife Filomena, dined with the prime minister until dawn, he reported.
“A very deep friendship was born. Pain causes this”said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
During Ferro Rodrigues’ “long recovery”, the head of state testified to his “ability to resist” and affirmed that “he is a person who is pessimistic when in doubt.”
“The opposite of our other friend and acquaintance”he noted, in an allusion to António Costa, whom he once called an “irritating optimist.”
The President of the Republic described Ferro Rodrigues as “a good man” and “very principled, with militant integrity”, who “likes to have a facade in the struggle for ideals” and shows himself to be “tougher”, but “he is too” . a sweet one”.
“It is a great pleasure and honor for me to be here to say this”he declared.
In his opinion, Ferro Rodrigues, after leaving active politics, seems to be “very critical, very loose” and “return to the student leader of Economics”.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stated that this makes him feel “even more conservative” than he is. “although always surrounded by progressives, but not sufficiently learning the lesson of progressivism”.
During this session, the President of the Republic, who is almost 75 years old, reiterated that he is “militant against writing memoirs.”
Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues was elected President of the Assembly of the Republic exactly eight years ago, on October 23, 2015, a position to which he was re-elected in 2019 and which he held until March 2022, when the previous term ended.
In April 2022, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Military Order of Christ by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
Economist, graduated from the Higher Institute of Economic and Financial Sciences, of which he chaired the student association, Ferro Rodrigues was the founder of the Socialist Left Movement (MES) after April 25, 1974, and joined the PS in 1988.
He was Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Equipment in the governments led by António Guterres, between 1995 and 2002, and then Secretary General of the PS, between 2002 and 2004, and Chairman of the PS faction, between 2014 and 2015. .
Between 2005 and 2011 he was Portuguese Ambassador to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
In addition to the Prime Minister, ministers Fernando Medina, Mariana Vieira da Silva, Pedro Adão e Silva, Ana Catarina Mendes and José Luís Carneiro and PS figures such as José António Vieira da Silva – who was responsible for one of the interventions – were present at this session -, João Cravinho, José Vera Jardim, Alberto Martins, Jorge Lacão, Ana Gomes.
Also present were the former General Director of Health Francisco George, the historian and former leader of the PSD José Pacheco Pereira, the Olympic champion Rosa Mota, the president of the association 25 de Abril, Vasco Lourenço, and António Filipe, from PCP .
Source: DN
