“Will this path be a miracle for us, as so many, from outside, say?” Asked Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in a communication to the country, from the Palace of Belém, in Lisbon, regarding the second extension of the state emergency in Portugal.
According to the head of state, “it is good that they think so”, but “no, it is not a miracle, it is the result of much sacrifice”.
“It is the result of, in these crucial phases, those who have political responsibilities to have listened to the experts, to have acted in unity and to have made this fight the fight of their lives, and, from the outset, the Prime Minister and, with him, the Government, how fair it is to recognize, “he praised.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa then extended his praise to other political leaders, “the President of the Assembly of the Republic, the Assembly, all of it, party leaders, social leaders, political parties” in general, and also to “economic partners and social “.
The President of the Republic relativized the votes against this second extension of the state of emergency of PCP, Liberal Initiative and of the non-registered deputy Joacine Katar Moreira, in the vote held today in the parliament.
“Even those who diverge today, in the first and decisive moment, were not opposed. That is what will remain for History”, he maintained.
Then, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa praised the citizens who have dedicated themselves “to saving lives or helping those who save them and guaranteeing the basics” necessary for everyday life, and the population as a whole for having “understood the challenge and acted earlier “.
The President of the Republic considered that the Portuguese reacted to the covid-19 pandemic “in solidarity and mobilized, with discipline, with zeal, with determination, with courage”, enduring “such deprivations in this way that so many foreigners call the Portuguese miracle”.
“If this is a miracle, as others out there say, then we, the Portuguese people, have been a living miracle for almost nine centuries. If this is a miracle, the miracle is called Portugal,” he concluded.
The President of the Republic today decreed the second extension of the state of emergency in Portugal, for a new period of 15 days, until May 2, to allow measures to contain
