Former President of the Assembly of the Republic (AR), Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, said on Friday he was concerned about the evolution of the political situation in Portugal and the dangers facing democracy, acknowledging that the government “has made several mistakes made”.
In an opinion piece published in the newspaper Público, Ferro Rodrigues criticizes the former President of the Republic, Cavaco Silva, deputies and the government, also noting that the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic have agreed on the dissolution of the AR in 2021.
“Unfortunately, what happened between 2015 and 2019 under innovative and demanding governance conditions, then began to fail, imposing a dissolution in 2021 in which the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister agreed, as I was a privileged witness. There was no another exit after the rejection of the 2022 budget,” he says.
In the article, the former secretary-general of the PS recalls that after the unexpected absolute majority of the PS in January 2022, the institutional relationship gradually deteriorated.
“After institutional unity in times of political challenge, terrible fires and a pandemic, now, in the new parliamentary framework and with these unforeseen threats, this was not possible,” he said.
According to Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues”the government made several mistakes, it got in the way, as the prime minister stated”, underlining that the “magistracy of influence has entered a serious crisis with the succession of stubbornness, the replacement of frank and frontal talks by messages through journalists and commentators “.
“We could write whether António Costa should have accepted the resignation of João Galamba on that May 2. I do not, because the situation should never have come this far and because I am convinced that, if the resignation had been carried out, nothing essential of what happened next would stop happening,” he said, referring to “the tragic marathons of the Commission of Inquiry” and “the words of a former president of the republic seeking peace with his constituents, at the cost of displaying levels of political resentment and resentment that are hard to accept”.
In the article, Ferro Rodrigues asks António Costa to bring to an end “the service he has rendered Portugal” and “close this cycle that will have a significant impact on people, families and businesses”
It also asks that “don’t hesitate to replace anyone who is needed in the government so that the country continues to move forward. Donate at the right time, but in a timely manner, to anyone who is hurting”.
“What was missing was the outbreak of a political crisis with the dissolution of parliament and early elections in this context (…)”
To the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the former president of AR asks “not to let your hemisphere dictate it and that the idea in the country settles that the dissolution of a parliament with an absolute majority of a single party will become the new normal”.
For Ferro Rodrigues, the “road to the trivialization of this last presidential source sets a very dangerous precedent, even adventurous”
“What was missing was the outbreak of a political crisis with the dissolution of parliament and early elections in this context, where on the one hand there are deadlocks of governance and decision-making that can and must be overcome, and on the other hand the return of threats and falsehoods of those who believe that anything goes in democracy,” he underlined.
Ferro Rodrigues also believes early elections would mean “an explosion of abstinence and the inherent growth of the far right”.
“It was exactly what was missing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of April 25 with the power influenced by those who always despised or belittled that day. It is absolutely necessary and urgent to restore inter-institutional trust,” he said.
According to Ferro Rodrigues, Portugal and the Portuguese deserve that the voices of the past are no longer in power.
Source: DN
