Marcelo Rebelo de Souza explains why he talked about government fatigue

President of the Republic Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on Saturday praised Prime Minister António Costa’s energy and explained why he spoke of the government’s fatigue, given that he shares some of that “inevitable exhaustion”.

The Head of State spoke with António Costa next to him at a joint press conference as they were about to wrap up the 28th Ibero-American Summit in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in which they participated together.

Asked if he sees António Costa tired of his analysis that PS’s current administration started with a “tired majority”, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa replied: “The Prime Minister has an energy that is on the test, as you can see. So, personally, he shows no signs of fatigue.”

“What I said, I was listing the reasons why this was a very difficult year,” he explained, citing “foreign policy concerns”, in his opinion, that “answers to domestic policy questions” were delayed.

According to the President of the Republic, “it is clear that the leadership and key elements of the government have withstood situations that, by the way, were called pathological here today, such as the pandemic and the period leading up to the war, and, if in one case or another, with obvious economic and financial crises and social consequences.”

It’s “although the government was significantly different – the prime minister later said that there were changes in the government and the government lives on, and then there are subsequent changes in the composition of the government to adjust to reality,” he noted.

In addition, at the domestic level, he pointed to “an end to the process of excessive deficits” and “cleansing and consolidating the banking system.”

As a result of these factors, the third government led by António Costa, who took office a year ago, cannot be compared with “a new majority in the sense that it has just been elected” if it “has not encountered before I don’t know how many problems with cost, fatigue in the sense of inevitable wear and tear, what does it have,” he argued.

“But what about the Government and as regards the President. The President also, in his own way, not being executive, does not wear out in the same way,” he added.

Marcelo Rebelo de Souza concluded his explanation in an interview with RTP about two weeks ago, stating: “I have limited myself to this analysis of the circumstances.”

Prime Minister António Costa then commented: “In short, we left very satisfied.”

The President of the Republic was then also asked to clarify whether he thought that most of the PSs were tired, and he responded by emphasizing the intensity of those who perform public functions.

As an example, he said that at the official summit dinner on Friday, he was with António Costa “to review what has happened in Portugal’s domestic politics in the last 48 or 72 hours.”

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa also noted “two characteristics” that distinguish the relationship between them: “Firstly, there are no documents in the hearings and working meetings with the prime minister.”

“There is no notification, no protocol, no magnetic or electronic record. The second issue is that the meeting takes place once a week. But do you think the facts are waiting for Thursday? They don’t exist,” he said.