Intention is to take stock of legislative session, which ends in July
Portugal’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has announced that in July he will hear all parties with seats in parliament and his Council of State on the country’s economic, social and political situation.
The head of state was speaking to journalists before the opening ceremony of the 93rd Lisbon Book Fair.
“In July I shall receive the parties sitting in the Assembly of the Republic to take stock of the legislative session, which ends in July, and to listen to them – I have not heard them for months – on the economic, social and political situation,” he said. “And then, towards the end of July, I will convene another Council of State on Portugal’s situation.”
De Sousa noted that “it has been a long time” since he convened the council – his top advisory body on domestic affairs – and said “it makes sense to hear the councillors of State right after the parties.”
His intention, he stressed, is not to hear the panel “on any specific point; it is not for any specific case of intervention” but rather “in general” about “what they think of the evolution of the economy, how it will evolve until the end of the year and next year, to hear about the social situation and to hear about the political situation.”
The latter particularly has been filling the newspapers and television current affairs programmes for weeks, if not months, with most analysts predicting early elections being called due to the series of ‘cases’/ ‘potential scandals’ threatening the credibility of the Socialist absolute majority.
