Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa addressed journalists during the eighth and final Book Festival at the Palácio de Belém in Lisbon, reflecting on this initiative amid criticisms directed at him by António Sampaio da Nóvoa in an interview with Jornal de Notícias and TSF.
Regarding the critiques of the “three atomic bombs” during his terms, which Sampaio da Nóvoa described as “an absolutely immense democratic violence” that provided “fertile ground for these populisms,” the head of state began by expressing admiration for the former presidential candidate, his opponent in 2016.
“I usually do not comment on figures of Portuguese political life and even less on someone I admire greatly, who, in addition, was my opponent ten years ago, someone I admire and believe has the profile to be President of the Republic. Later, he chose not to run again, but he had the profile,” he reflected.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa then addressed his three dissolutions, justifying each one, compared Portugal’s political situation in recent years to those of other European countries, and highlighted his time alongside the former Prime Minister, António Costa.
“Portugal has had appreciable stability, because in ten years it truly had two prime ministers, one of whom served for eight and a half years. It is considerable stability,” he argued.
The President noted that “it was possible to have a coexistence of a PS Government, the most left-wing in Portuguese democracy since the revolution, with a right-wing President,” emphasizing his eight and a half years of coexistence with the same prime minister. He remarked, “If this is not stability, I don’t know what is stability.”
In his view, “political systems are all in significant crisis, particularly the European ones, and Portugal has endured more than the majority of European political systems.”
