Marcelo and Costa exchange greetings for last Christmas in Belem

The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the Prime Minister, António Costa, exchange Christmas greetings this Thursday at the Belém Palace for the eighth and final time that the government is in power, with elections scheduled for March 10.

Two years ago, when the government came to congratulate him on the holidays, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that he had “investigated” how many such ceremonies his predecessors had had and stressed that his cohabitation with António Costa had already lasted six Christmas holidays. he was “surpassed” only by Mario Soares and Anibal Cavaco Silva.

That Christmas, the President of the Republic also announced to the country the dissolution of Parliament due to the failure of the state budget, but the government continued to function in full force, with Prime Minister António Costa preparing to face the first legislative elections on January 30, 2022, and now he is leaving. since he had already been replaced as PS Secretary General by Pedro Nuno Santos.

In 2021, António Costa told Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa that it was “always a pleasure” to follow this tradition and a “pleasure” to work with the President: “It is a pleasure based on this already many years of experience, which, in fact, has earned the recognition of the Portuguese in his re-election to this year [nas presidenciais de 24 de janeiro de 2021]”.

According to the head of government, in those years of coexistence there was a “common understanding” of “the institutional role of the various sovereign bodies, guarantees of scrupulous respect for judicial institutions, an understanding of the meaning of institutional solidarity between the Assembly of the Republic, the President of the Republic, the Government.”

Both praised the “effort of national unity” in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

In December 2022, with the emergence of the new political structure of the PS absolute majority in parliament, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa took advantage of the government’s welcoming session to ask to avoid “factors of instability” and “additional problems” beyond those already existing. and spoke of “the costs of exercising political power.”

“Elections have this effect: it is not just access to power and the exercise of what is favorable to power – which, in fact, the one who exercises this power discovers that there is very little of it – it is a reckoning for what is unfavorable to power.” in power, and it is huge,” he said.

The Prime Minister, for his part, believed that the country was going through “difficult times” with high inflation, which required from the President “what has been the hallmark of the relationship of his two terms and the actions of the government, namely cooperation.” and institutional solidarity.”

“In these moments, we all need to join hands and walk together side by side on the path forward,” he defended.

Marcelo and Costa’s cohabitation, which began in 2016, could have surpassed Soares and Cavaco in life expectancy if the current legislature had gone through with it, but it was eventually curtailed following the resignation of the prime minister on November 7 due to a judicial investigation.

The prime minister publicly criticized the president for his decision to dissolve parliament and call early legislative elections.

On their first Christmas in 2016, when they took office, Costa promised to always pay attention to the “prudent and advisory word” of the president, with whom he expected to establish a strong “good institutional relationship.”

The head of state called his cooperation with this minority government, supported by left-wing parties in parliament, “a natural consequence of the Constitution” and said that all Portuguese “on all sides” should be happy with stability, while noting at the same time that “nothing is more transitory.” than political power.”

In 2017, the Prime Minister highlighted the “collective shock” caused by the fires and noted that solidarity between the government and the president remained “impeccable” in both good and bad times. Marcelo argued that “the Portuguese people have shown signs that they like” this solidarity and political stability.

In December 2018, Costa described the nearing end of the legislature as a body of “institutional normalcy” in relations between government bodies, including the judiciary. The president welcomed stability and called for the protection of democracy from the “adventurism of realities outside the system.”

At Christmas 2019, with António Costa leading a new minority government, Marcelo hoped for stability until the end of next year, when two budgets would be voted on. The Prime Minister praised the “healthy coexistence” with the President.

In 2020, a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, Marcelo called Portugal “an example of broad institutional cooperation.” Costa, while in isolation, appeared via hologram and, on the eve of the presidential election, assured the government’s “loyal and frank cooperation” to whoever would be elected president.