The President of the Republic today justified his political veto of the decree on housing with the lack of party consensus and alleging the reduced effectiveness of the measures, stating that “life goes on” if the PS confirms the decree.
“I list, point by point […], the shortcomings of the rapid implementation of this package and the total lack of agreement within the regime, total party consensus, with only one political force voting in favor, two MPs from two other political forces abstaining and everything else voting against. What we needed was a reform that wasn’t for two years, two and a half years, and for that it had to have significant support in parliament,” said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on the first of his two-day official visit to Warsaw.
The head of state added that, “knowing that there is a majority that can reconfirm, in conscience I couldn’t help but say what I thought”, because the set of diplomas “didn’t represent the national support base that was needed”.
“It’s a question of the Assembly of the Republic exercising its powers and the President exercising his powers. The Assembly confirms it, life goes on and we’ll be alive to see the result in two or three years’ time,” he said.