“I don’t even speak as a Catholic. If I spoke as a Catholic, it would be even more blunt.’ Interviewed by RTP and the newspaper Publicbroadcast on public television Thursday evening, the president of the republic was scathing about the position of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference on the abuse of minors in the church: “All the problems have been overlooked.”
That is, it “failed on all major counts”: “in terms of accountability”, by “failing to take preemptive positions” towards priests suspected of abusing minors and “failing to pay reparations” by victims. “It was the complete opposite” of what it should have been, and this was compounded because “the church is a fundamental institution in society” that “the country needs”. “If it doesn’t work out in such a basic situation, it will have consequences for the entire country.” Therefore, although there is “every man for his side” within the hierarchy, what matters now, in the opinion of the head of state, is a quick “additional reflection to find new ways”.
In an interview scheduled to mark his seven years as president of the republic, Marcelo, while notoriously good-humored, proved to be unsympathetic to both the government and the PSD.
“Today I put my hand under it very little,” he said in relation to the government, after starting to kill in the interview, deeming the PS majority a “warmed-up majority” and “tired” as it only was obtained at the end of six years of administration. “In a context of war and crisis management, we manage day-to-day operations and look at the short term and not the long term,” he said – not forgetting to point out that “after all, the numbers were better than expected .”
Still, he added, he expects the legislature to go to the end (2026). But – and the solemn warning remains – nothing is guaranteed in this sense: “Don’t ask me to say that I waive the authority to [a Assembleia da República]”. If, as he explained, reality is “more fantastic than our imagination”, and develops a “pathological situation” that is confirmed “in the irregular functioning of the institutions” provided for in the Constitution, then it will disappear, which will lead to early elections causes.
But before that, he added – and here in a message to the PSD – another circumstance will have to develop: “The existence of an alternative”. This alternative exists “mathematically but not politically”, as there are two parties (IL and Chega) that do not communicate with each other – “therefore the votes do not add up”. In addition, for the president, “the alternative to being strong is to have a party that is clearly stronger than the others,” which polls show is currently not happening. Meanwhile, questioned about the return of Pedro Passos Coelho, he made it clear that the PSD’s solution must be to keep Luís Montenegro in charge: “Dance those who are in the circle” and “only those who are outside come in as those who are in the circle depart”.
Health, Housing, TAP and teachers were other topics covered in the interview.
In the case of education, Marcelo defended that the new forms of strike “are not regulated by law”, and that regulation is necessary because “society, parents, members of the education community need to know what lines they are sewing with”.
The PR also advocated the need to continue negotiations between the government and unions – although it found it difficult (“I don’t think it’s possible”) to allow teachers a “full recovery” of their career time. is fair,” he said.
Marcelo also analyzed the differences and convergences between the government and the PSD regarding measures to combat the housing crisis, warning that, with regard to the executive’s proposals, there may be issues of unconstitutionality in the idea of forced renting by the state of private properties that have not been put on the market. He, meanwhile, criticized the scant time — seven days — for public discussion of the articulations put forward by the executive.
Read the “minute by minute” interview in the article below:
Source: DN
