Elton Monteiro / LUSA
The President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
President of the Republic dismisses problems with Prime Minister. Analysis of what happened in Martim Moniz must be done with “modesty”.
It seemed like Marcelo Rebelo de Souza had left a kind of Christmas to Luis Montenegro.
“Institutional solidarity, which has always been good between the President of the Republic and successive governments, and remains clearly good, is not enough. But it’s not enough.”
“At present, because the problems are even more serious, there must be strategic cooperationwhether in domestic policy, foreign policy or National Defense.”
But, after all, no.
The following day, asked if he asked for, or if he said he wanted, greater strategic cooperation with the Prime Minister, the President of the Republic denied this idea.
“I didn’t ask, no. No no. I didn’t say I wanted it, no”, Marcelo began by responding to journalists, during a visit to Cape Verde.
The President of the Republic explained: “He said that there was already (strategic cooperation) and that it was a point that, at this moment, was fundamental”.
And he underlined: “On the part of the Government and the president, there is total cooperation in strategic terms“.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa insisted that he did not ask for more cooperation with Luís Montenegro: “Today it is more reinforced because of the international situation and because of the issues we have to face in the world and in Europe. But it is already more reinforced cooperation“.
Brought on PSP
The President of the Republic stated this Friday that he wants to see the images from Thursday at Martim Moniz, in Lisbon, to comment on it, but defended as a general principle that security must be exercised with modesty.
“I was in Cape Verde, I didn’t have the opportunity to see not even the images, because I arrived late and today I was busy with several other commitments. And, therefore, I will not comment on the matter”, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa began by responding to journalists, before an initiative in Cascais, in the Lisbon district.
The head of state then said, however, that “in general” he has defended “that security is very important for people’s lives and for the stability of the social, economic and political situation” and that “it must be exercised respecting constitutional and legal rules”.
“Both security and, for example, judicial investigation must be exercised, without the risk of considering that publicity or the use of forms of coverage of events while they are taking place takes away the meaning and pedagogical character that this intervention must have”, he stated .
“And it must be done com brought. It must be done with modesty, which I also think of in other types of actions, for the sake of affirming the institutions and the pedagogical and exemplary weight of the institutions”, he added.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa wants to “see exactly what happened” in the Public Security Police (PSP) operation in Martim Moniz to understand “to what extent there was this balance of intervention”, “whether or not he had the modesty to was suitable for this situation.”
The President of the Republic highlighted that, according to the PSP statement, which he said he had read, “it was about complying with six judicial mandates” and that “the intervention, at first glance, was compliance with a judicial decision with intervention by the Public Ministry to very specific purposes.”
When asked whether this operation may have been carried out in response to a perception of insecurity, he replied: “There it was not the perception, there it was the fulfillment of mandates of a judicial nature“.
“Now, if this, in some way, did not have the modesty that this type of interventions should have, it will only be possible to verify when I see the images and understand what actually happened”, he reinforced.
Regarding the possibility of going to Martim Moniz, the head of state responded that first he wants to “see exactly what happened”.
“At this moment, nothing should happen there, except what happens every day, which is, normally, there we find many Portuguese people and many foreigners of the most diverse nationalities, it is an area that is multicultural, multicivilizational, for a long time time”, he pondered.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa mentioned that he has been there several times, with “Timorese brothers” and “in contact with communities such as Chinese, Pakistani, Indian and others, who have their establishments or activities there”.
