Marcelo arrived on Wednesday. Antonio Costa this Friday. The President of the Republic and the Prime Minister will be in the Dominican Republic, the second largest country in the Caribbean (after Cuba), today and tomorrow to participate in the 28th edition of the Ibero-American Summit.
This Friday, at 7 p.m. local time (11 p.m. in Lisbon), the two took part in the opening ceremony of the summit, themed “Together for a fair and sustainable Ibero-America”. After the event, Costa and Marcelo cross the Atlantic Ocean again towards Luxembourg, where they will see another match of the Portugal national football team on Sunday (qualification for the European Championship 2024, in Germany). A weekend together when cohabitation between the two registers the highest turnover since it began in 2016.
This Friday in Santo Domingo, the capital of the country hosting the summit, Marcelo made numerous statements about the current state of his relationship with the head of government. On the one hand, to lighten the mood, pointing out that the two have known each other for over four decades (when Costa was his law student); and on the other hand to explain that he feels invested in the role of main “counterbalancing” force to the PS majority force.
Against “the monotony”
As for the old relationship between the two, he explained: “We are very predictable. I’ve known him since I was 19 years old, he doesn’t change and I don’t change. At 19 years old, the person is more or less formed, and in his early thirties he had already graduated.
“[A coabitação] every now and then there are more violent moments, others less violent, but that is the richness of democracy. Have you ever thought how monotonous it would be if the president repeated what the prime minister wanted him to say, or if the prime minister always agreed with the president? It was monotonous.”
His belief is therefore simple: “Until the end of our lives, which means in terms of political life, until the end of this common path until 2026, neither he nor I will change.” In global terms, he added, cohabitation works “very, very well”: “Sometimes there are more intense moments, others less intense, but that’s the richness of democracy. Have you thought about the monotony that would be if the president would repeat what the Prime Minister wants him to say, or if the Prime Minister always agreed with the President? It was monotonous. And then he explained his ‘counterbalance’ theory.
Chairman “Intervenant”
“Political parties, political protagonists in general find it inconvenient for the president to speak in certain circumstances, or the moment he speaks, or the way he speaks, or the style he adopts and the like. Interventor. The Portuguese think that the fact that the President intervenes is a form of guarantee against the absolute majority,” he insisted.
“I am like this, for a very simple reason, because the President of the Republic has that office, and if he does not fill that office, no one else can fill it, because no one else has the independence of the President.”
Add: “How is it compensated [a maioria PS]? In Parliament, yes, but in Parliament there is a very clear majority. What is the organ that can really counterbalance when it makes sense to intervene? It’s the chairman. And that is the function of the president.” Marcelo thus guarantees that everything remains the same: one time he criticizes and the other time he praises. In other words, he will be “an intervening president”: “I am like that, for a very simple reason, because the President of the Republic has this office, and if he does not fill this office, no one else can fill it, because no one else has the independence of the President.”
Source: DN
