“It was one of the most difficult challenges of my life,” confessed Rosário Farmhouse, reflecting on her presidency of the Lisbon Municipal Assembly (AML), a role she assumed in 2021 after being elected as a municipal deputy on the Socialist Party ticket.
“And I thought I had already faced very difficult professional moments,” she shared in her farewell speech. An anthropologist by training, Farmhouse has worked on complex issues such as refugee aid and child protection.
She expressed being “astonished” by the “moments of such great hostility” she witnessed in the Lisbon Municipal Assembly, a place where civility “was not always present.”
Addressing the “difficulties in defining the boundary between freedom of expression and offense,” she admitted feeling “like a stranger” in the municipal body.
“I experienced very sad moments,” she noted, citing the Glória lift tragedy that resulted in 16 fatalities as “undoubtedly the worst.”
Confident that “mediation is possible if the common good is prioritized,” Farmhouse described her tenure as “an act of citizenship,” during which she encountered “fantastic people” and had “unique moments,” including the World Youth Day, the 50th anniversary of April 25th, and the children’s general assembly.
Emphasizing that “never have so many people been involved” in the city’s politics as in this term, she also urged for “greater availability from the mayor for assembly sessions.”
Regarding the role of AML president, she concluded that “it has a dimension and demand that require a status different from other assemblies.”
She suggested reconsidering “a different way to remunerate the scrutiny of the Municipal Council’s work,” other than the attendance token model, and noted that “being a female president” is “a matter to consider in an unpaid role.”
In closing, she wished for the new elected officials to focus “on the essentials” and promised to continue following Lisbon, but “from a distance, more at peace and perhaps happier.”
