“I don’t engage in controversies that aim to create a dispute between November 25 and April 25 […], I don’t see one date as an alternative to the other,” stated José Pedro Aguiar-Branco.
The President of the Assembly of the Republic was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a meeting at the European Parliament in Brussels, alongside representatives from the parliaments of the political-economic bloc.
When pressed by journalists to comment on Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s remarks regarding the 50th anniversary celebrations of November 25, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco noted he had not heard the President of the Republic’s statements.
“I believe that April 25 and November 25 are different dates, for different and important moments in Portugal’s history, and are not alternative to each other,” he emphasized.
The President of the Republic remarked on Tuesday that commemorating November 25 with a military parade harks back to the past shortly after the revolution, noting that it had occurred during the presidential terms of Ramalho Eanes.
“If you want, it’s a return to the past, reviving what was done in the years immediately following the end of the revolution,” commented Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, speaking to journalists at the Carcavelos Campus of the Nova University of Lisbon, in the municipality of Cascais.
Asked about equating the commemorations of November 25, 1975, and April 25, 1974, the head of state responded that the commemorative session for the 49th anniversary of November 25 in the Assembly of the Republic “was practically equated already last year” to the annual solemn session of April 25.
Regarding the 50th anniversary of November 25, which will be marked next week, he continued: “At the [military] parade, it will be the same. That is, the April 25 parade took place last year, and now it takes place on the same level.”
According to the President of the Republic, the military parade will be “at Terreiro do Paço” and “without speeches,” being “timed by the ceremony in the Assembly of the Republic.”
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa mentioned that holding a military parade on November 25 “is an idea” that “has existed, at times.”
