Filipe Amorim / EPA
MARCELO REBELO DE SOUSA
In his first message to the country after the rejection of the government’s confidence motion, the President of the Republic also called for doubts around the prime minister’s business not to master the campaign.
The President of the Republic said today that “there was no halfway” or possible consensus between the position of the government and the opposition in the current crisis, considering that “It is not possible to trust and distrustAt the same time of the Prime Minister.
Communication to the country from the Bicas Room in the Palace of Belém, in which he announced the Third dissolution of the Assembly of the Republic In his terms, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stated that the crisis suggested “unexpectedly” in February “with questions raised about the government and following the Prime Minister”.
“All efforts of even minimal understanding have proved impossible. Why? Because for some, with the facts invoked and the clarifications given ethical or moral confidence was obvious. For others, with the same facts invoked and the clarifications given, the moral or political distrust is that it was obvious, ”he said.
Between the two positions, the government and the opposition, “The agreement was not possible”.
“At the same time one cannot trust and distrust ethically or morally from a person, in this case of the Prime Minister, and therefore the government. There was no halfway, ”he said.
The head of state stressed that a political crisis, in these terms, arose “for the first time in our democracy”,
“A shock that was not as much about policies as on reliabilitythat is, the ethics of the person performing the role of Prime Minister, ”he said, justifying the unanimous position of both the parties and the Council of State, as to the realization of early elections as the only way out of the political crisis.
The head of state also called for AA that there is “a decent and high debate”In the next election campaign that strengthens democracy, warning that it would be“ an unforgivable waste ”not to discuss the country’s problems.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa considered “inevitable” that the theme that originated the political crisis-the prime minister’s patrimonial and professional life-occupies part of the electoral debate, “particularly in the first weeks”.
“Debate that can and should weigh, and weigh well, the signs and risks to the democracy of confrontation situations in which there is no consensus, even if it is, because it is lead to alleys of a personal and ethical naturethat there are no way out other than the elections, ”he warned.
However, he defended, “It would be an unforgivable waste Not discussing what worries the Portuguese daily life of the Portuguese in these and in the near future. ”
“There is an electoral debate. Of course, frontal, enlightening but serene. Dignified, high, tolerant, respectful of difference and pluralism, ”he said.
The President of the Republic warned of the risk of another type of discussion to weaken democracy and open “even more at the door the experiences that are known how they begin and know how they are over.”
“It is the appeal for everyone and, I believe, of all the Portuguese. A debate that gives strength to those who come to represent in the Assembly of the Republic. May give strength to those who come to rule. That give strength to the Portuguese To control their representatives and their rulers, ”he said.
In his communication of about ten minutes, he warned that only democracy has “ability to face and overcome crises”, unlike dictatorship.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa also promised to provide conditions for the management government so that “if it does not stop the execution of the recovery and resilience plan”.
“Without run over, of course, the electoral rules. What is the goal? Allow a transition, if possible, as peaceful as the lived in 2024. Only now in two and a half months and not in five as then, ”he said.
The early legislative elections will Hold on May 18announced today the President of the Republic.
