Marcelo’s speech will be 10th of his two-term mandate
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is in Lagos today to give his tenth and final speech today as the country’s head of state on Portugal Day – an occasion on which he has always praised the Portuguese people and called for national cohesion, writes Lusa.
The military ceremony this morning for Portugal Day – also known as the day of Camões and the Portuguese Communities – will also be attended by writer and state counsellor Lídia Jorge who chairs the organising committee for these celebrations, and comes herself from the Algarve (Loulé); the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, CHEGA leader André Ventura and the president and interim secretary-general of the Socialist Party (PS), Carlos César, among many other guests and dignitaries
Marcelo chose Lagos for his final June 10 celebration, having already honoured the day in Lisbon, Porto, Ponta Delgada, Portalegre, Funchal, Braga, Peso da Régua and, last year, in three districts of the Leiria region affected by the 2017 fires – Pedrógão Grande, Figueiró dos Vinhos and Castanheira de Pera – and in Coimbra.
Throughout his two presidential terms, Portugal Day has also been celebrated abroad, with emigré communities, in a model the president established when he took office in 2016, in conjunction with the then Prime Minister, António Costa, and which has been continued by Luís Montenegro.
This Day of Portugal takes place in the week following the inauguration of the members of the 25th Constitutional Government – the second executive headed by Luís Montenegro, following snap elections on May 18, which the Democratic Alliance coalition (PSD/CDS-PP) won without an absolute majority – and in which the right wing Chega Party became the second largest parliamentary force.
A year ago, in his speech in Pedrógão Grande, Marcelo called for a more equal and less discriminatory future for all parts of the country.
“May this June 10, 2024 mean: no more tragedies like those of 2017, a more equal and less discriminatory future for all regions and for all Portuguese people, a duty of mission, a place for hope, trust and dreams, always, even in the most painful moments of our collective life,” he saod.
In 2023, the military ceremony on June 10 was also held in the interior of the country, in Peso da Régua, in the district of Vila Real, where the head of state stated his ambition that “the interior should be as important as Lisbon, Porto and Setúbal” and other coastal cities, “equal in law, equal in hope for the future”.
On that occasion, as in previous years, Marcelo gave a speech praising national citizens, whom he described as universal in character, spread throughout the world and with a vocation for building bridges. He asked them not to give up on “creating more wealth, more equality and more cohesion”.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will end his second and final presidential term on March 9, 2026, by which time the presidential elections in January will have chosen his successor.
Source material: LUSA
