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Rodrigo Antunes / Lusa
The President of the Republic defended, this Friday, that the measures for the Christmas weekend be known as of next week. And he welcomed the fact that there was already an approved budget.
In response to questions from journalists, at the end of an initiative at the facilities of the newspaper Público in Lisbon, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa He said that “next week there will be news” on the measures that will be in force at Christmas.
“Next week there will be news about this, there will be an epidemiological session, there will be a hearing of the political parties, there will, of course, be the opinion of the Government, there will be the authorization of the Assembly of the Republic, and then there will be the decision of the President of the Republic, “he continued.
The head of state maintains that it’s “common sense” Define the measures for the Christmas weekend at the same time that the state of emergency is renewed, next Friday.
“It makes no sense to keep the Portuguese waiting until December 24 to find out what they are going to do on Christmas Eve. It seems to me common sense that, in advance, the Portuguese know how you can organize That weekend of the 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th ”, said the President, quoted by the newspaper.
According to TSF radio, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa considered that these decisions have to take place “next week because the 8th is a holiday and it will come into effect on December 9”, adding that “on the 7th there is no Assembly and, by nature, nor on the weekend ”, being the last day that Parliament has to decide on the state of emergency the next Friday”.
The current state of emergency ends at 11:59 p.m. on December 8 and, if it is renewed for another 15 days, the new term will begin at 00:00 on December 9, until 11:59 p.m. on December 23.
“What is a fact is that there is a budget”
Asked about the cancellation of the transfer of 476 million to Novo Banco, the president chose not to comment on this matter. “It is a matter that I will only analyze in the Budget. I will not speak now on a particular aspect “.
However, for the head of state, the most important thing is that there is a Budget, having taken a scenario of political crisis. “Right now talking about a crisis beyond this specification is what we call inventing more problems than the problems that exist,” he defended.
“There is no room for a political crisis about a pandemic and an economic and social crisis, both very serious. A third crisis on these would not make sense ”.
“In the same year, there were three budgets: for 2020, which was finally approved in 2020 because the elections were in October, the Supplementary Budget and the Budget for 2021,” the head of state listed, quoted by the radio, adding that ” two of the four Legislative Budgets are approved, and as expected, left“.
That said, Marcelo recalls that the year 2021 brings several challenges, in addition to those that already exist. “We will continue to have to deal with the pandemic and the economic and social crisis, EU presidency with tough decisions that can remain for Portugal and at the end of next year there will be local elections ”.
Command is “more important” than rerun
The head of state also refused to advance a date for the announcement to Portuguese of his decision on a new application: “In principle, when I decide on the question of whether to submit an application or not, that is when they will know.”
“At this point, I still consider that it is more important to be president of the Republic, only, to be President of the Republic and presidential candidate. It is good to be clear that there are decisions to be taken as President of the Republic, in the midst of a state of emergency, in the midst of a pandemic, in which it is good not to be mixing with presidential candidacies, “he justified.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa added that this “does not prevent the candidates from saying what they want about the President of the Republic, because that is democracy, it is freedom,” and that he will announce his decision on a candidacy for a second term “in due time, when deemed appropriate“.
“Because, in fact, I was elected President of the Republic until March 9, I was not elected to prepare for reelection. Therefore, the mandate as President of the Republic is more important than the decision of whether or not I am a candidate for a new presidential term. It was for the first contract that I was chosen and paid by the Portuguese. They pay me to be president Republic, they don’t pay me to be a candidate for reelection ”, he argued.
On Tuesday, Marcelo scheduled the presidential elections for January 24, 2021. According to the Constitution and the law, candidacies must be formally presented to the Constitutional Court before December 24, 30 days before the elections, proposed by a minimum of 7,500 and a maximum of 15,000 voters, and the electoral campaign will take place from January 10 to 22.
