CDS approves Parliament’s consideration of observance on November 25th of each year

SDP, I.L. and Chega approved on Tuesday the CDS-PP’s discussion of the issue of the military operation on November 25, 1975, which will be commemorated annually in the Assembly of the Republic, an initiative that was opposed by the left benches.

After the vote, in which PAN MP Ines de Souza Real abstained, representatives of the CDS-PP and Chega applauded the initiative for a long time for the Christian Democratic group’s approval of the initiative.

The discussion of the Liberal Initiative deserved great consensus in the sense that the Assembly of the Republic commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of November 25, 1975 with a solemn meeting, combining this moment with the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the revolution of April 25, 1974. .

The PSD, PS, Chega and the Liberal Initiative voted for the text proposed by the Liberal Initiative, which was opposed by the PCP and the Bloc de Esquerda, while Livre and the PAN deputy abstained.

A different result was achieved by Chegi’s decision to make November 25 a national holiday in Portugal – a proposal that was supported by only two CDS-PP deputies and the Liberal Initiative abstained.

PSD, PS, Bloco de Esquerda, PCP, Livre and PAN voted against Chegi’s initiative.

Today in plenary, for about two hours, there were several heated debates around the historical significance of the events of November 25, 1975, mainly pitting the CDS, PSD and Chega against the PCP and the Bloc de Esquerda.

CDS-PP parliamentary leader Paulo Nuncio presented his debate on November 25, praising the actions of military personnel such as Jaime Neves and former President of the Republic Ramalho Eanes. He also praised civilians such as the then leaders of the PS, PPD and CDS, respectively Mário Soares, Francisco Sá Carneiro and Freitas do Amaral. In contrast, Paulo Nuncio spoke of the defeat of the far left and the ongoing revolutionary process (PREC), avoiding the “path to totalitarianism” in Portugal.

The president of the Chegi Collegium, Pedro Pinto, accused the PCP of outlawing the Christian Democratic Party and seeking to “establish a Soviet dictatorship, invading farms and pointing guns at the heads of farmers.”

In a diametrically opposed view, PCP deputy António Filipe accused parliamentary law of seeking to rewrite history and attempting to “whitewash” the Estado Novo regime, noting that agrarian reform continued after November 25 and that the Constitution itself was approved by the Communists. in April 1976, “which was opposed by the CDS.”

António Filipe suggested that, in his view, 25 November 1975 opened the way to a “counter-revolutionary process”, but stressed that his party’s goal was to “prevent civil war” in Portugal and that the communists were still the target of political violence even democracy, reminiscent of “bomb attacks” and acts of destruction of the headquarters of the PKP.

For the Bloc Esquerda, Joana Mortagua defended the thesis that whoever tries to value November 25th “says April 25th, but…”

“April 25, 1974 was a people’s revolution, it was carried out against colonialism, against the big classes and against the economic regime of monopolies. The people were the protagonists in the revolutionary explosion. On April 25, a new historical entity was built. “, he spoke.

According to the leader of the Left Bloc, on November 25, the parliamentary right wants to “rehabilitate the Estado Novo and demonize the current revolutionary process (PREC).”

“Those who want to celebrate November 25 are those who do not have the courage to celebrate May 28, 1926,” which was established by the Estado Novo regime, he added.

PSD deputy Bruno Vitorino praised the CDS-PP initiative, saying that “democracy and freedom did not fall from the sky”, that April 25, 1974 “has no owners” and that it was November 25, 1975 that strengthened the democratic regime. in Portugal.

Regarding the PREC period, Bruno Vitorino recalled episodes such as the siege of the Assembly of the Republic, the occupation of lands and others, but also mentioned the supposed current threats to freedom emanating from those who want to expose “children to social influence”. experiments” in schools and those who seek to impose a “culture of activism” typical of the “radical left, often paid for by our taxes.”

During this period of debate, the representative of the Livre, Rui Tavares, who throughout the debate defended the need for an analysis divorced from history and rejected the equivalence between April 25 and November 25, asked Bruno Vitorino if he knew on which side the MRPP acted during the PREC, remembering that some of the future PSD leaders later left the MRPP.