Marcelo warns that institutions either “change for the better or for the bad”

The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, warned this Thursday that international and Portuguese institutions either “change for the better or for the bad”, in other words “late and haphazardly”.

In a speech at a commemorative ceremony on October 5 in Lisbon’s Plaza Municipio, attended by, among others, Prime Minister António Costa and the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santos Silva, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke of “a global war made up of many other wars.” and warned many who insist “not to see the balance of power in the world changing.”

“Either international or domestic institutions change for the better, or they change for the bad. And it’s bad, because it’s late and unsystematic,” he warned.

According to the analysis of the President of the Republic, this could happen if there are delays with climate, energy, artificial intelligence or with the “weight of communities” such as the United Nations, the European Union, the CPLP, NATO or the Iberian Community. -American world.

“All this could happen because of the failure or slowness to overcome poverty and social inequality, or to recognize the role of women, or the role of migrants, minorities and in particular young people,” he warned.

The Day of the Proclamation of the Republic will be celebrated at the traditional ceremonial meeting in the Municipal Square in Lisbon, where the head of state will speak after the President of the City Council, Carlos Moedas, in the presence of Prime Minister Antonio. Costa and the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santos Silva.

At last year’s ceremony, the first in the current PS system of governance to win an absolute majority in early legislative elections in January 2022, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that “critical demands are healthy” and that in democracy “there is a path for everyone.” and “Everyone must make it move forward, not stagnate or retreat.”

In an 11-minute speech, the head of state spoke of governments that “almost always tend to think of themselves as eternal” and of oppositions that are “almost always irritated by waiting,” before declaring that “nothing lasts forever” and that “Democracy by nature this is the realm of alternatives, our own or others’.”

Official Republic Day celebrations are again taking place during more than a year and a half of war in Ukraine, sparked by the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, which has had global economic consequences. the situation is characterized by inflation.

Domestically, the President of the Republic expressed opposition to the government’s housing package and publicly distanced himself from Prime Minister António Costa over the retention of João Galamba as Minister of Infrastructure following incidents related to your office.

The last time he spoke to the country, on June 10, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa believed that Portugal needed to “create more wealth, more equality, more cohesion” while seeking to maintain its “projection in the world” and this to achieve these “dead branches affecting the entire tree” must be cut off.

5 October became a national holiday again in 2016, when Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa became President of the Republic (he had been removed from office in 2013 by the previous PSD/SDS-PP government) when the PS controlled parliamentary power. support for parties to your left.

In his first speech of the day, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa emphasized the importance of “the example of those who exercise power,” warning of the consequences for democracy that occur “every time a public official is blinded by power, he finds himself in the spotlight.” world, personal or functional dependencies can be assumed.”

In 2017, after local elections, he again asked politicians to show “greatness of soul to come to a common opinion” and “civic humility” to recognize what is happening well and what is bad, focusing on the medium and long term , and warned that “there are no permanent successes or permanent failures.”

The following year, the President of the Republic called for the constant construction of democracy in the face of “radical, selfish, chauvinist or xenophobic temptations”, arguing that “innovation and intimacy in the political system” and the renewal of mandates were fundamental. , against “regimes of personal power.”

In 2019, there were no speeches at the ceremony marking the creation of the republic in Lisbon’s Municipal Square, as was the case on the eve of the legislative elections.

On this day in 2020, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa pointed to the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic as an opportunity for change. “The economic recovery will take years and even more years if this is a missed opportunity to change institutions and behavior patterns and irreversibly envision our future,” he stressed.

On 5 October 2021, after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, he called for making the country “more inclusive” and entering a “new cycle of wealth creation” on time, taking advantage of European funds “tough, efficient and transparent”.

According to the head of state, the coming years are a “unique and unrepeatable opportunity” for the development of the country, and “failing to enter this time means losing an opportunity that may never return without appeals or grievances.”

Reactions

António Costa (Prime Minister): “The speech of the President of the Republic was a particularly interesting reflection on the concern that we should all be aware of, that we need to anticipate problems in order to make the right decisions.”

Eurico Brillante Díaz (PS parliamentary leader): “It seemed like an intervention to me [do Presidente da República] very future-oriented, on the problems that we have to solve, but very much on the future, talking about issues that are very important, not only in relation to the problems, but also in the politics of the PS.”

Hugo Soares (Secretary General of the PSD): “I believe that the great message of the intervention of the President of the Republic, which I welcomed here, was the division that he defines between the real country and, as he said, the official country.”

Andre Ventura (President of Chega): “He left a mobilization speech in which we see ourselves. I think this is a very interesting historical analysis. He managed to leave a message [de que] Either we change forever and now on the big issues of security, migration, climate, youth, or these changes will happen against us and against us.”

Rui Rocha (IL President): “This is a clear signal for the Prime Minister. In these eight years, the prime minister has become a kind of unfamiliar resident; he’s here, but he doesn’t know exactly what’s going on.” in the country”.

Paula Santos (parliamentary leader of the PKP): “We note in the speech of the President of the Republic a general consideration of the most common problems, both from a national and international point of view. But the question of change that has been raised by the President For the Republic itself, it requires concrete policy options to respond to the most pressing problems we now face in our country.”

Pedro Filipe Soares (BE Parliament Leader): “We are repeating the same mistakes, in particular on the issue of housing, which, when deprived of this right, pushes many people out of the country. We have a problem that is recurring, and despite not a word from the President of the Republic about housing, what brought hundreds of thousands of people to the streets across the country last weekend shows some deviation from reality.”

Rui Tavares (Livre’s only deputy): “The President of the Republic gave a speech in which he gave an excellent historical contextualization of what the weaknesses of democracy are when it allows populists, nationalists, authoritarian authorities to take advantage of the rules of the game.” to undermine its own game, that is, to end democracy. This is a history lesson that doesn’t last that long and that we should be very careful about.”