The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, defended today that “the 25th of April is essential and had to be evoked”, as will be the 10th of June, the 5th of October and the 1st of December.

“In exceptional times of pain, suffering, mourning, separation and confinement, it is even more important to evoke the motherland, independence, the Republic, freedom and democracy”, emphasized the head of state in the solemn session evocative of the Carnation Revolution in the Assembly of the Republic.

The President of the Republic defended that the solemn session of the 25th of April is “a good and not a bad example” and that it would be “civically shameful” for the parliament to resign now from exercising all its powers.

“What would be truly incomprehensible and civically shameful was having an entire country living through this time of sacrifice and surrender, and the Assembly of the Republic resigned from exercising all its powers in a situation where they were and are more than ever essential. And also in this session, which has always been and will be an essential moment of critical and plural control in freedom and democracy – because these are the values ​​of April “, he said.

At the end of the solemn commemorative session of the 46th anniversary of the 25th of April, in the Assembly of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa focused his speech in defense of this commemoration of the Carnation Revolution, seeking to answer the “doubts of some Portuguese”.

“In a time of confinement for so many Portuguese, as it was at Easter and now at Ramadan, are we standing before a bad example in a state of emergency, in terms of principles, as in compliance with health directives? No. The state of emergency implies an extraordinary reinforcement of the powers of the Government. And, because we live in freedom and democracy and it is with them that we want to overcome these crises, the greater the powers of the Government, the greater the powers of the Assembly of the Republic must be to control it “, he argued.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stressed that “the Assembly of the Republic never stopped working, and discussed and voted the most important in plenary sessions” in the last few weeks, “respecting the health directives, as is obviously necessary”.

The President of the Republic added that “this session is an example of this, a good and not a bad example”, in which “dissenting voices were heard that spoke of April 2020, of successes and also of failures, past and present, and of dreams and fears present in a critical situation of national life “.