The President of the Republic stated this Friday, February 27th, that he will resume his activism in the PSD, which he suspended when he took office in 2016, but stressed that he will not express any political position or make party interventions.
“I suspended militancy until the end of my term. Suspending militancy until the end of my term means that, at the end of my term, I resume what I had as a party connection since the founding”said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in statements to journalists in Brussels, at the end of a reception for employees of European institutions at the Permanent Representation of Portugal to the European Union (EU).
The President of the Republic highlighted, however, that “you can belong to a party, have ideas, but not express anything politically”.
“This is what I understand I must do as former President of the Republic”he highlighted, stating that he sees “with some difficulty one wants to end one’s political life and then go to party meetings and party interventions”.
Asked how long he thinks he will be able to remain silent after leaving office, Marcelo acknowledged that he has friends who wanted to “make dinner or lunch bets” precisely on this topic.
“I refused that, but they assured that this would be short-lived. But I think it will last, because I think it is what, on the one hand, corresponds to my vision of what a former president of the Republic should be and, secondly, because I was on the political scene, even when I wasn’t, I was as a commentator since 1965”he stated.
The President of the Republic stressed that this means that he has been expressing his point of view for 61 years, “first every now and then, then every week, in the newspapers, on the radio and on television, and then, in the meantime, as a political protagonist”.
“And the place must be given up to others. Now is the time for others”he stated.
Regarding what he plans on March 10th, the day after he leaves office, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that on that day he wants to go to a concert, for which tickets are free.
“I have to get in line, because whoever shows up first gets the tickets. So, what I’m going to do probably on March 10th, late in the afternoon, if not earlier, is get in line to see if I can get tickets for that show, because it’s a very interesting play.”he said, before joking to the journalists: “I’m not saying which one, otherwise they’ll still show up.”
On the day he took office as President of the Republic, on March 9, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa decided to suspend the activism of the PSD, the party he founded in 1974.
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