The liberal initiative this Friday condemned the “unacceptable statements” of the president of the republic about holding the football world cup for putting human rights “in the drawer”, and announced the vote against Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s trip to Qatar .
Speaking to Lusa, IL parliamentary leader Rodrigo Saraiva said there was “a matter of principle in the first place”, recalling that the party had recently voted against Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s trip to Angola on the understanding that the President of the Republic “cannot make state trips on behalf of Portugal to countries where regimes do not respect human rights”.
“This is our position in principle and that is why we will vote against if this question arises about this trip of the president of the republic to Qatar”advanced.
In this case, according to Rodrigo Saraiva, there are “unacceptable statements by the President of the Republic, who put human rights in the background or on the shelf, as if it were possible to take a break from human rights.”
For the liberal leader, “the president of the republic, who calls himself the president of affection, has made some statements in which he shows tremendous social insensitivity and human insensitivity.”
“It is not possible to have statements like this that are disrespectful of what values and rights and human dignity are,” he condemned.
According to Rodrigo Saraiva, “neither the first figure of the state nor the second figure of the state nor any representative of the government should go to Qatar at this time”.
On Thursday, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said in statements in the fast-paced interview zone after a private match for the national team that “Qatar does not respect human rights” but will watch Portugal-Ghana on November 24.
“Qatar doesn’t respect human rights. All the stadium building and stuff… but hey, let’s forget about this. It’s reprehensible, but let’s focus on the team. We started really well and finished on a high” , said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
Today, after several criticisms of these statements, the president of the republic reiterated his defense of human rights and stated that he will speak again on the subject in Qatar if parliament authorizes his trip to the country hosting the football world cup.
Source: DN
