The debate where Marisa recognized Marcelo’s victory – Observer

Marcelo blinks to the left when admitting to vote for Marisa if he were not a candidate (“it depends”), and Marisa hesitates before saying that she would not vote for Marcelo under any circumstances. In fact, he can even glimpse a scenario (“but that will not be put”) in which he saw himself voting for the current president: the scenario in which Marcelo would face André Ventura. A warm debate, where Marcelo tried to use his experience and hit his opponent to the policies and decisions of the Bloco de Esquerda and where Marisa tried to hit Marcelo from the right and health failures, which ended with him challenger acknowledge Marcelo’s inevitable victory.

In one image, the presence of this evening that inaugurated the marathon of presidential debates, was a cordial tea of ​​five between two candidates who saved in decibels. At least, that was the image they wanted to convey, in a face-to-face where Marcelo tried to agree more than disagree, but always trying to beat his opponent to the party to which he belongs, a party that was not on the side of the “stability” in the Budget. next year – and where Marisa wanted to expose the “ideological” differences between the two.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa also began the debate with disarming praise for Marisa Matias for what she has done “in Europe” in areas such as migration or the defense of the status of informal caregivers, and the praise was shared: “Marcelo had a important role in the visibility of the issue of informal workers ”. But then there was the subtle attack: “I regret that the Budget for 2021 was not approved with a broader understanding of the left,” he said, after Marisa made it clear that, as president, she would fight for “stability” and “lasting understandings. left ”.

Marisa’s strategy was clear: fit into the moderation plan and push Marcelo towards right-wing politics and the failures of the NHS; and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s as well: to show that Marisa Matias is from the Esquerda Bloco, and that the Esquerda Bloco is far from the social democracy that he likes to say so much. It happened when Marisa Matias tried to link the President of the Republic to non-compliance with the applicability of the new Basic Health Law and to the privilege of private “business” (“health cannot be a business”), and Marcelo concluded by saying that “The Bloco de Esquerda opposed the management associations, APP, in the health area; he opposed it and was left alone ”.

The issue of false data provided by the services of the Ministry of Justice to the Council of the European Union on the European Prosecutor’s Office also reached the first presidential debate and Marcelo did not forgive the minister: “Regrettable” and “negligence in an internal note on a matter important”. Marisa Matias was more cautious. He said it was a “very serious” situation, but declined to comment further because he had not heard the minister’s explanations minutes before on RTP.

Asked about the lowest moments of the mandate of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Marisa Matias chose the “silence” of the PR on the death of the Ukrainian citizen at the hands of the SEF. And that was the blocker’s sharpest moment, the only one, really. Marcelo began fighting this, saying that it manifested in April, but later admitted that it was his option not to annul the SEF in the state hierarchy for contact with the family. “It is criticized, but it was the decision I made,” he said.

Marcelo also wore the suit of the President of the Republic to confirm what the Observer had already advanced: he will extend the state of emergency with “the same regime” for eight days, since there is not enough data on the Christmas period, thus gaining time to “Find a solution that targets a month.”

And it ended with Marisa Matias undoing the “taboo”, admitting that “the next president will probably be sitting in front of me.” Even for that, the PSD and the CDS have to “take fruit salts” to vote for him. It may not be the “ideal”, but Marcelo considers himself “the best possible”. And Marisa doesn’t seem to disagree. Or if you don’t agree, you didn’t show it in this debate.