This will be the last high-level meeting between the duo that starred in eight years of political cohabitation. The visit takes place less than two weeks before Marcelo leaves office, being replaced by António José Seguro on March 9th.
The President of the Republic is, this Friday, in Brussels with the President of the European Council, António Costa, in a farewell to the European institutions that should dictate the last high-level meeting between the duo that marked national politics.
A visit takes place Less than two weeks before Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa leaves officeon March 9, and includes meetings with the presidents of the three main European institutions: European Parliament, European Commission and European Council.
At around 10:55 am (09:55 am Lisbon), Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will be received at the European Parliament by the president of the institutionRoberta Metsola, before heading, at 12pm (11am Lisbon), to the European Commission building, where she will have a meeting with Ursula von der Leyen.
The highlight of this visit will, however, be a meeting with António Costa at the European Councilat 1pm (12pm Lisbon), where, after a brief visit to the building, they will make statements to journalists, before having lunch together.
This meeting is particularly symbolic, considering that it must be the last, at the highest level, between the two main protagonists of Portuguese politics in the last decade.
Marcelo and Costa lived together for eight years
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and António Costa lived together for eight years (2016-2024)the second longest in the history of Portuguese democracy, after that of Mário Soares and Cavaco Silva (1986-1995).
The last time he was at the Belém Palace as prime minister, in December 2023, António Costa considered that the eight years of cohabitation with Marcelo they were “one of the best periods of coexistence between the Government and the Presidency” in the history of Portuguese democracy.
“I doubt that there have been so many periods of so much good coexistence between sovereign bodies, which does not mean a coincidence of points of view, especially when we come from different political families”, said António Costa at the time.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa also recalled the period of coexistence with António Costa as a “very positive” experience and, “compared to what was coming, happiness”.
“I often said to a government official with whom I shared almost eight and a half years of unforgettable experience: one day he will recognize that we were happy and we didn’t know it”, recalled the President of the Republic in December 2024.
President will be with Portuguese officials
After lunch with Antonio Costa, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa organizes, at 3:30 pm (2:30 pm in Lisbon), a reception at the Permanent Representation of Portugal to the European Union for Portuguese employees in European institutions and representatives of diplomatic missions in Brussels.
O President of the Republic will speak at this receptionas well as the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Inês Domingos, and Portugal’s permanent representative to the EU, Pedro Costa Pereira.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa visited the European institutions in Brussels in March 2017, when he was also received by the kings of Belgium. In October 2023, he was in Belgium on a state visit, after receiving Kings Philippe and Mathilde in Portugal in 2018.
Marcelo will cease his duties on March 9, the date on which the new President of the Republic, António José Seguro, will take office before the Assembly of the Republic.
