On the right: April has no owners, and “you will be defeated in this fight for democracy”

In the solemn session commemorating the 52nd anniversary of the 25th of April, right-wing parties refused to cede the monopoly of the date to the left and used the platform to claim April as theirs — and to point out what they consider to be decades of immobility caused by progressive governments.

From the PSD to Chega, passing through the CDS-PP and the Liberal Initiative, the speeches were marked by criticism of the left, calls for State reform and the revision of the Constitution, and by a symbolic dispute which started with the color of carnations and ended in warnings about the future of democracy.

Fifty-two years after the 25th of April, the parliamentary right arrived at the solemn session with a clear message: April has no ownersand the freedom that the Revolution brought cannot be exploited by those who, in his view, have used it to halt the country’s progress.

The argument is not newbut it gained relevance in a hemicycle where parties on the right today have a unprecedented parliamentary majority.

O The most symbolic moment of the afternoon belonged to Chegawhose deputies entered the plenary with green carnations instead of the traditional red ones — a deliberate provocation that divided opinions and dominated comments on social media.

Andre Ventura explained the choice as a tribute to the Portuguese diaspora, but the gesture was read by the left as a affront to the legacy of April.

The PSD was not indifferent: Hugo Soares went straight to the point, stating that “April It’s not about green carnations or red carnationsApril belongs to the flag of Portugal.”

Beneath the symbolic dispute, there was a in-depth debate about what it meansin 2026, be faithful to the spirit of April.

To the right, the answer involves reforms that the left blocked for decades, for a constitutional revision that frees the country from ideological constraints and for a democracy that accepts all electoral results — including those that the left would prefer not to have to accept.

“Moderation also means complying with April”

Hugo Soaresparliamentary leader of the PSD, chose a quote from the socialist history Manuel Alegre to open his speech — “there is always someone who resists, there is always someone who says no” — and claimed this courage for the political center that the party occupies.

The message was simultaneous distancing of both extremes: “Today we are the ones saying no. Say no to populism. Right and left. Say no to radicalism. Wherever you come from.”

In a parliament where there is “a increasingly prejudiced left and a increasingly radicalized right“, the space of moderation is the space of transformative humanism — and that is where the PSD is located, said the PSD parliamentary leader. “In our moderation. Because moderation also means complying with April.”

“The full democrat is the one who celebrates the 25th of April, and undoubtedly celebrates the 25th of November. This is what salutes and thanks the captains of Abril, but does not forget the memory of Pires Veloso and Jaime Neves.”

Soares called on politicians to “have ideological prejudices that only tribalize”, pointing out symmetries between the two sides: “the left wing is afraid of word homeland. And wake right up word humanism.”

“You will be defeated in this fight for democracy”

Chega’s leader, André Ventura, took the stand with the more combative tone in the afternoon. He started by challenging the dominant narrative.

“It is It’s not April captains’ day. It’s All Armed Forces Day“, lamenting those who take to the stand to “exalt guerrillas” who, in their reading, killed “Portuguese soldiers. Celebrating April 25th has to mean embracing our entire history. Stabbed in the back like this we were“, stated Ventura.

The speech covered several topics, from pensions, corruption, the NHS, low wages, ex-combatants, before focusing on one direct left warning: “you will be defeated in this fight for democracy. There is a large right that will not give up.”

Ventura also separated itself from the Government’s labor package: “We can never allow any State reform to facilitate corruption, nor reforms to take away workers’ rights. We represent workers.”

“Why is there so much fear of reforms?”

For the CDS, João Almeida began by establishing a principle that ran through his entire speech: “April has no owners“.

The centrist deputy’s speech was marked, insistently, by a central question “Why is there so much fear?” — to make reforms, to review the Constitution, to discuss history, to celebrate the 25th of November.

“We cannot be tied to left-wing policies that held the country back. We need to open the doors to freedom, to true freedom”, he highlighted.

João Almeida resorted to an economic argument: in 2003, Portugal had higher GDP per capita, wages and productivity than the eight countries that then joined the EU. Twenty years later, the situation was reversed in all indicators.

“Em more than 80% of these twenty years, we were governed by the left or intervened thanks to their bankruptcy”, he concluded, being applauded by the PSD, IL and Chega.

A “swamp of resentment”

Mariana Leitãopresident of the Liberal Initiative, recalled that the Carnation Revolution “was the beginning of the third wave of democratization that swept the world until the end of the 20th century” — a feat that Portugal does not value, says the deputy, because it is too busy to regret.

“We are ignored again. A forgotten, stagnant, inert country, a swamp that soon became a mire of resentment“, stated the IL leader.

For Mariana Leitão, the Portuguese they already gave the answer that could give: emigrated, just as they did during the dictatorshipthis time fleeing not from repression but from the “stagnation of their standard of living” and the “inaction of the political class.”

“April was not meant for anything to changewas done precisely so that everything could change, without fear and without owners. The Portuguese have already shown the way, we now lack the political courage to follow them.”

At the end of the session, what remained was a more confident and less willing right to let the left define the terms of the debate. , red or green, was the most visible symbol of a deeper battle: that of those who have the right to speak in the name of April. And, by extension, in the name of Portugal.