Former Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho reaffirmed on Thursday that he is out of political life and intends to continue, but believed “it would be foolish” to say he will never do anything in his life again.
On the sidelines of a conference on the National Health Service (SNS), which took place behind closed doors at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Lisbon, Pedro Passos Coelho was asked by journalists whether he intended to stay away from political life contrary to what the President of the Republic predicted.
“I have no intention of returning to political spaces, people know that, I am away from political activity. There is no reason for me to say that I will never do anything in my life again, because it would be foolish to to say such things “it would be absurd, but I’m not thinking about anything, I absolutely love it and I intend to continue”said Pedro Passos Coelho, quoted by the online newspaper Observador and CNN Portugal.
Leaving the initiative, Pedro Passos Coelho explained that the meeting was reserved for the students of that institution at his request and because he understood that their participation would always affect the public and political debate.
“I’m not in public space. It was a classroom, an academic environment”repeated the former prime minister.
In mid-October, at a ceremony marking the beginning of the commemorations of the centenary of Agustina Bessa Luís, in Amarante, attended by Pedro Passos Coelho, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, declared that the country “is still We can always expect a lot from the contribution” of the former prime minister.
“Being so young [Pedro Passos Coelho]the country can expect, can expect a lot from its contribution in the future, I have no doubt about that”the head of state told journalists, noting that the former head of government’s “resistance” during the troika period is recognized inside and outside Portugal.
“The country, in a very difficult period of crisis in the Troika, owes to Prime Minister Passos Coelho a resistance, which I could only hear two days ago praised through the mouth of the then Chancellor Angela Merkel. That is why it is recognized within and recognized out there, it’s a fact”added Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
In his speech at the ceremony, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa addressed the “Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho”, who sat in the front row of the dozens of people who watched the moment.
“Remember how much Portugal owes you in the past and how much Portugal certainly owes you much more in the future”said.
Pedro Passos Coelho, 58, chairman of the PSD for eight years (2010-2018), was prime minister from 2011 to 2015, during the years of Troika intervention.
Since then he has withdrawn from active politics, his public interventions being rare.
Source: DN
