The President of the Republic today deemed it necessary to “cut off the dead branches that reach the whole tree”, warning that, only if we don’t want to, “Portugal will not be eternal”.
In his speech at the military ceremony held in Peso da Régua to mark the Day of Portugal, Camões and Portuguese Communities, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa drew on the country’s universalist vocation and the struggle of the Douro region to get some messages across, while Portuguese politics is still mired in controversy over the incident at the Ministry of Infrastructure and the involvement of the SIS in the recovery of a computer belonging to one of the minister’s deputies, João Galamba.
The head of state felt that the country “never wants to make the mistake” of exchanging its universal vocation for the illusion that, to be happy, it must stop being what has marked it “for centuries”.
“But let this not be an alibi or justification for not being stronger and fairer here, so that we can be stronger and fairer abroad”, he stressed.
According to the Head of State, “that’s the attraction of this Douro and the whole Douro”: “to attempt the impossible, to try once, several times, a thousand times, to fail more often than not, (…) not to give up, to start again”.
“Let’s give new vigor to everything that needs it. Plant, sow, prune, cut off dead branches that affect the whole tree. Let’s recreate together, in this Douro, in all our Douros, what will make our future very different and much better than our present”, he declared, without ever directly referring to any ongoing political affair.
Flanked by the Prime Minister, António Costa, and the Minister for Infrastructure, João Galamba, the President of the Republic declared: “Only if we don’t want it will our Portugal not be eternal”.
