The President of the Republic pointed out today that the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of April 25 began with a left-wing PS government and will end with a right-wing PSD/CDS-PP government.
“But this is a virtue of Portugal, it means that there is an obvious national consensus on April 25,” he said.
The head of state, who was speaking at the opening of the exhibition “O Movimento das Forças Armadas (MFA) e o 25 de Abril”, at the Alcântara Maritime Station in Lisbon, saluted the captains of April for telling their story, making “a bridge between the past, the present and the future” and “a bridge between different Portugais”.
He then stressed that these soldiers “lived an important part of their lives before April 25” in 1974 “and another important part of their lives after April 25, in the transition period, and another important part of their lives after the transition period” and considered that they were “always building April”.
“This is how you can build April and start building April with celebrations that begin with a left-wing government and end with a right-wing government. But that’s a virtue of Portugal,” said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
According to the President of the Republic, “it means that there is an obvious national consensus on the 25th of April, on freedom, on democracy, on what was a huge step in decolonization, on what is a constant demand, never finished, in economic, social, cultural and sustainable development”.
At the end of his speech, he exclaimed: “In short, long live April 25, long live Portugal”.
On this occasion, the head of state referred to the April military decorations he has awarded since 2021, “almost three hundred” so far, and announced that “participation medals will soon be awarded to those who participated without command responsibilities, but were fundamental to what was experienced on April 25”.
