The former Socialist leader and former President of the Assembly of the Republic, Ferro Rodríguez, said this Monday that he has informed the Head of State and the Prime Minister that the end of Jérigonça will entail the end of his active political activities.
Ferro Rodríguez reported this episode, which occurred with Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and António Costa in October 2021, after the government’s 2022 budget proposal was announced, during the launch of his book “This is how I see my life – A Memoir” in Belem. Cultural center in Lisbon.
In his speech, the former PS General Secretary emphasized his friendship with Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
“He’s one of my last friends. In fact, it was a friendship that arose in a completely new situation on a political, social, economic and cultural level, starting in 2015, and which, unfortunately, was interrupted with the end of the so-called “Geringons” period in 2021.”
In front of a room full of guests, Ferro Rodrigues said he felt the end of Geringona, the political decision of the PS minority government that enjoyed parliamentary support from the PCP, Bloco de Esquerda and PEV between November 2015 and October 2021. as a “big failure” and from a personal point of view.
“I told the President of the Republic and Prime Minister António Costa not to count on me. It was a big defeat, which I also felt was my own,” he said in the final part of his speech.
Addressing the head of state, the former chairman of the Assembly of the Republic recalled the period in 2018 when he was ill and underwent surgical interventions.
“He was tireless when I was sick,” Ferro Rodriguez said, then emphasizing the friendship between them, “regardless of political differences.”
Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, 73, was elected President of the Assembly of the Republic exactly eight years ago, on October 23, 2015, a position to which he was re-elected in 2019 and held it until March 2022, when the previous legislature ended.
In April 2022, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, awarded the President of the Republic the Grand Cross of the Military Order of Christ.
An economist and graduate of the Higher Institute of Economic and Financial Sciences, whose student association he led, Ferro Rodriguez was the founder of the Left Socialist Movement (MES) after April 25, 1974, and joined the PS in 1988.
He was Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security in the government of António Guterres from 1995 to 2002 and Secretary General of the Socialist Party from 2002 to 2004.
This meeting was attended by Prime Minister António Costa, ministers Fernando Medina, Mariana Vieira da Silva, Pedro Adan e Silva and José Luis Carneiro, as well as PS figures such as João Craviño, José Vera Jardim, Alberto Martins, Jorge Lacao, Ana Gomes . .
Among those present were also former director general of the Ministry of Health Francisco Jorge, historian and former PSD leader José Pacheco Pereira, Olympic champion Rosa Mota, president of the April 25 association Vasco Lourenço and António Filipe of the PCP.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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