Parliament sees off Jeronimo de Souza with a standing ovation

The President of the Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santos Silva, this Monday highlighted the “cordiality, friendliness” and “political contribution” of Jeronimo de Souza, with the benches on the left and the PSD applauding the former leader of the PCP.

At the opening of the plenary session this Monday, MPs approved the replacement of Jeronimo de Souza in parliament by Duarte Alves following the resignation of the former communist general secretary.

Although Jeronimo de Souza was no longer present, the president of the parliament wanted “on behalf of the whole chamber to thank the deputy Jeronimo de Souza, who had been a deputy in this assembly for decades, first in the Constituent Assembly and then in the Republic”.

Augusto Santos Silva also noted that “his cordiality, personal sympathy is recognized by everyone, he has made many friends in this hall.”

“But I also wanted to appreciate her political contributions. Democracy lives on the debate between the ideas of different political currents and on the work of each of us to represent our constituents, the ideas and proposals of our political forces”, defending, noting that “in all these areas, Mr. Jeronimo de Sousa excelled”.

“Stay here with many friends and, using the track record in which Mr. Jeronimo de Souza has always enriched us, resorting to folk wisdom, we can say that the doors are always open for strong friendship,” said the President of the Assembly of the Republic.

After that, the deputy was given a standing ovation from the benches on the left and the PSD, while the deputies from the Liberal Initiative gave a seated applause. Chega’s bench was the only one who didn’t applaud.

Before intervening in the opening of the specialty state budget debate, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ana Catarina Méndez thanked the communist for his “work and contribution to Portuguese democracy.”

On November 8, Jeronimo de Souza resigned as deputy to the Assembly of the Republic and was replaced by Duarte Alves, one of the party’s youngest leaders.

Since the work of the Assembly of the Republic was due to the budgetary period, the replacement was formalized this Monday after the approval in the plenary session of the conclusion of the Commission on Transparency and the Statute of Deputies.

Duarte Alves, 31, was “number three” in Lisbon’s constituency in the last legislative elections (where the PCP elected only two deputies, Jeronimo de Souza and Alma Rivera) and will replace the outgoing general secretary.

The Economist was already a deputy during the XIII and XIV Legislative Assemblies and became known for being a member of the commission of inquiry into Novo Banco’s losses attributed to the Resolution Fund. In Parliament, he oversaw issues such as the state budget, finance and energy.