A little over a month before the new legislation, the President of the Republic warns that “predictability in the political system” is needed to face the pandemic and asks that they avoid “political mini-cycles”.

“It will not be possible to continue to face the pandemic and put in place the necessary economic and social response, if there is no predictability in the political system, if the political system does not have the capacity to respond predictably, in the medium term – six, seven, ten years – with medium term institutional capacity. This is a problem that arises”, he said, in a speech at an event of the Portuguese Diaspora Council, broadcast by RTP3.

These ongoing changes coincide with a period in the economic and social cycle of the arrival and management of European funds, which Marcelo hopes will not bring “additional problems”.

“The effort that will be needed is a long-term effort, it cannot be an effort translated into political mini-cycles because that would be to miss the opportunity in managing what remains of the pandemic (…) Above all, it wants economic reconstruction”, he argues.

Marcelo also recalled that this is a period that requires “sensitive management” and that it is necessary to prevent this phase at the end of the year and the beginning of the next. The President praises that Portugal is “testing like never before” and that the increase in new cases has not translated into an increase in deaths and hospitalizations similar to last year. The pressure on health structures “is different from what was experienced a year ago”, he notes.

Marcelo also defends that “Humanity must prepare itself” for these pandemics. “In a democracy, from the point of view of legal and constitutional response, a framework must be created that allows for what is inevitable, what will be inevitable,” he says.