Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa assures that he does not want a political crisis after the European elections in mid-2024, but is not afraid to suggest that it could happen, even recalling past examples.
In statements to journalists this Tuesday during a session of the program “Musicians in the Palace of Belém”, in the former royal arena in Lisbon, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa pointed to the end of the second absolute majority of the PSD led by Cavaco Silva, in the 1990s, as an example that cannot be followed: “That majority was exhausted, it was about to be European elections”.
The ruling party at the time “lost the European elections, there was no dissolution of parliament, the majority formally remained standing, but was dead”, and in that last phase “it was a majority that was later limited to discussing the succession of the head of government and the transition to another reality”. “Now – he added – what we want is an absolute majority that is not like that.”
In response to questions about the prime minister’s interview given to RTP on Monday, the president of the republic defended that the government is expected to be an “absolute majority of work”, which benefits from European funds and lasts until the end of the legislature, without entering into “internal dissolution”.
“I think this is the situation we’re in: We want there to be a legislature that holds and we want it to be a majority, not just in name, but in work.”
It is expected “that in this decisive year it will use the funds and that it can therefore be the engine of an economic recovery that benefits from the figures and projects of 2022 for the future, thus acquiring a dynamism that will allow it to result of the election to overcome European companies, whatever it may be,” he insisted. “And that he reached the end of his mandate with the Portuguese saying: it was worth giving an absolute majority, because the absolute majority did not run out, it did not get tired, it did not get off the ground of the country. That’s what the Portuguese want.”
Marcelo divided the absolute majorities into “in name and work” and others who “became name only from a certain point, because they emptied, because they got tired, because they left the countryside”. Using a phrase used by António Costa in that interview, he considered that “the function of the President of the Republic is to help the Government not to stand in the way of the absolute majority who are no longer nominally a absolute majority is at work.” “I think this is the situation we’re in: we want a legislature to come out that’s fulfilled and we want it to be a majority, not just in name, but in work,” he concluded.
“The fact that there is the ability to control and respond to that control as a result of increasing demand from the Portuguese means that the Portuguese are much, much more demanding.”
Asked about the succession of “falls and falls” within the government, he opined that these are “a sign that Portuguese democracy is stronger”, preferring a “living democracy” to a “swampy democracy”. “It’s good for democracy to have demands from old and new political parties in the party system, in the media. Otherwise it would be a swampy situation. It’s better to see if there are problems, raise them , then some are, others are not, and that’s a living democracy, to be a swampy democracy.”
The president pointed to the example of the British government, led by Rishi Sunak, which “has resigned in 100 days, I don’t know how many, for ethical reasons”. According to him, this also happens “in Portugal now more than in the past”, because “in today’s democracies the control is very strict”. And that “is good, it is a sign that Portuguese democracy is stronger, not weaker”. “The fact that there is the ability to control and respond to that control as a result of increasing demand from the Portuguese means that the Portuguese are much, much more demanding.”
Source: DN
