It is the light at the end of the tunnel. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa addressed the Portuguese tonight to declare, for the third and last time, the state of national emergency. He guaranteed that it would be the last decree of suspension of rights and asked the Portuguese for a last effort not to “die on the beach“. It is not by will that decrees it, but by necessity. You have to buy time. Give the Government time to prepare for the gradual return to normality. But, for that, it is necessary that the number of cases does not increase, it is necessary that the so-called R0 (number of contagions per person) decrease, and that the number of hospitalized patients stabilize, so that the National Health Service (NHS) is able to provide answer. It is necessary to consolidate the screening and isolation process in nursing homes, and it is necessary to ensure that society is prepared to live in a new normality. It takes more time with the compressed spring to start relieving the pressure in the month of May – the month of all miracles.
“I have just signed the second – and I wish, and we all wish, the last – renewal of the state of emergency”
The President of the Republic wanted to make it very clear, right at the beginning of his speech, that he does not apply the State of Emergency instrument because he likes to do it, but because it is necessary. At a time when the option to keep this exceptional option begins to have more and more opposition, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa says that, due to his will, this is the third and last time that he decrees a State of Emergency: “I wish and we all wish“.
And as this is a necessary evil, and not a desire to presidentialize the regime, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa highlights how the first two weeks of April were a success that allowed the film to only have two sequels. “We are winning this second phase,” he said.
At this level, Marcelo praised the behavior of the Portuguese at Easter, including the emigrants who did not return, the definition of the end of the school year, the guarantee that the released prisoners were not worthy of “social censorship.” And, finally, the positive evolution of the epidemiological situation: “The drop in the percentage of growth of infected and seriously infected, in need of hospitalization and intensive care (…) and also, the essential drop in the contamination indicator to less than one person per infected ”.
“May must be the month of the bridge between duty and hope”
After explaining that the second renewal of the state of emergency is not a will, but a necessity, the President of the Republic lists three reasons to make it clear why it is important for Portugal to have another 15 days with suspended rights and freedoms.
There are three “essential” reasons:
- The first has to do with homes, who have long been the main focus of concern for the President and the country, and who need “more time” to consolidate their strategy of living with the virus. “Detect, mislead, isolate, preserve” is the maxim that must be carried out in homes, to protect those who live there but also who are outside. But more time is needed to consolidate this methodical scheme and provide all institutions with spaces and means to do so. For this, it is “imperative” that containment measures are in place.
- The second reason: the NHS. It is necessary to ensure that the NHS has the conditions to respond to patients if there is an increase in the number of infected people due to the increase in social contacts. In other words, it is necessary to ensure that there is a “surveillance and protection system”, as well as “rules of behavior already acquired” to avoid advances and setbacks in the containment measures. Portugal, and the SNS included, needs to be prepared to drop the tougher containment measures, slowly. But first, the number of daily admissions needs to stabilize and the number of tests continues to increase. Then, trust the Portuguese, who have already proven to act in accordance with the situation. Marcelo wants to avoid, at all costs, repeating in Portugal what happened in other societies, in which the easing of restrictions was counterproductive, and led to a setback in the advances achieved. It is necessary to gain maturity. And it is necessary that the Portuguese gain confidence to go out on the street. “Trust is the key word”.
- The third reason, which the President described as the “most relevant” is the one that sums it all up: it is necessary to buy time for the Government to prepare the ground, define the criteria, and start the third phase (the recovery phase) in the best possible conditions, so that people have the confidence to return to the street and work. “The present renewal of the State of Emergency is designed in such a way that it gives the Government time and space to define criteria. That is, to study and prepare – for after the end of April – the gradual opening of society and the economy, taking care in time, in a way, of territories, areas and sectors ”, he said.
In other words, the State of Emergency III is nothing more than an antechamber for the third phase, that of the gradual return to normalcy. Marcelo called it the “bridge” between duty and hopeThe. May will be that bridge, where the first steps of the return will be taken, while the effects of the return on the contagion curve will be analyzed. If all goes well, there is hope.
The key is there: in the maximum consideration of the process of reopening society. Only this will allow to give strength to the economy, because to have consumption it is necessary to have confidence.
“A word for those my age or above (…) Don’t be afraid (…) nobody wants to lock you up in a ghetto”
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is anticipating a feeling of lessening on the part of the elderly who, in the phase of easing the measures, should continue to be confined. These are the recommendations of the experts, of the European Commission and are endorsed by the prime minister: risk groups, in particular older ones, must be strictly protected when measures are started to be eased.
Anticipating senior discontent at this stage, Marcelo wanted to send a message to the elderly and put himself in the same position as them. An affection for approach and identification: “A word for my age or above it, or even below it, with more serious diseases ”. To this risk group, Marcelo appeals: “Don’t be afraid. Nobody minimizes your delivery of many decades, as nobody wants lock you up in a ghetto, dividing the Portuguese between those who resist and are essential and the fragile ones that are disposable ”. And he adds: “Taking care of you is different from making yourself smaller.” The idea I wanted to convey was: I am your age, I would never let “you” (therefore, “us”) be made smaller.
He also mentioned the younger ones but also left a word for the mayors. He said that he would be, if necessary after the crisis, the representative witness of the local elected officials and that he would defend them from anyone who doubted his surrender during this period. In this case, Marcelo is telling the mayors not to be afraid to make decisions thinking about municipalities, because justice will be done to those who are dedicated and genuine.
“A lot is being won, but we still lack the most difficult: we don’t want to die on the beach”
In Marcelo’s script, this is the part in which the President of the Republic asks the Portuguese for another effort with the spring compressed to the maximum, and then we can begin to relieve the pressure. It’s just a little more, so we don’t die on the beach.
The President knows that tiredness already costs – in fact, he even warned a month ago that it was going to happen. It was inevitable. He also knows that the fact that we start to see the light at the end of the tunnel means that there is a tendency for the Portuguese to start facilitating. “We have to resist” this temptation, he asks. We cannot leave everything to be lost by precipitation. “As the people say, we don’t want to die on the beach”.
But Marcelo also knows that the Portuguese have a question: what difference does it make to go out on the street now, at the end of April, or to leave at the end of May? And how do we know that when we leave in May we will not be losing everything? What is the line that separates? Not having a right answer, Marcelo answers these doubts saying that it is necessary to buy time now (with maximum restraint) for the curve to go down and the number of hospitalizations to stabilize. Only this will give robustness to the SNS, only the decrease of the call R0 (number of contagions per person) will allow you to relieve the pressure on the spring.
Two weeks from now, at the end of April, we will see the results of this last effort and, if all goes well, as Marcelo hopes it will, then we can start to ease. But it cannot be all at once, and that will depend mainly on the “common sense” of the Portuguese and political decision-makers to manage this reopening. It is this “duty” and “hope” separated by a bridge – that Portugal will cross in the month of May. The month of miracles.
“We know that no, it is not a miracle (…) It is the result of, in these crucial phases, those who have political responsibilities to have listened to the experts”
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa praised the Portuguese people in general, saying that it takes place in Portugal – which international newspapers call the “Portuguese miracle” – it is not a miracle, it is the result of hard work and sacrifice. “If this is a miracle, the miracle is called Portugal”- it was with this inspiring phrase that, in fact, the speech ended.
But, if it is customary, for doctors, firefighters, farmers or supermarket employees to be praised, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa defended the political class for the first time. With a self and hetero-compliment. It was for politicians that it was the first word at the time of talking about this sacrifice. Marcelo said that the “no miracle” is “the fruit of, in these crucial phases, has political responsibilities having listened to the experts. ”
Right here, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa wanted (in his own cause and in the defense of the Government) to make a difference for other governments like the USA in an initial phase (with Donald Trump resisting taking action or following the advice of experts) or Brazil (where Jair Bolsonaro continues to contradict doctors’ advice). The President thus highlighted the advantage of the sovereign bodies in relying on science.
But the praise went further, pointing out that the miracle is the result of the politicians having “acted in unity, having made this fight the fight of their lives, and, Prime Minister and, with him, the Government, as it is fair to recognize“. It was a compliment to António Costa, in a way that had never been so clear until now, in what is, once again, Marcelo’s applause for the Government’s work. For balance, which the President values so much, he ended up extending it to other figures: “But also the President of the Assembly of the Republic, the entire Assembly of the Republic, party leaders, social leaders, political parties, economic partners and social ”.
Marcelo also suggests that PCP and IL (who vote against a State of Emergency) or even Chega (who abstain and are very critical of the Government’s actions), were on the side of the Executive when it was necessary: “Even those who today differ, in the first and decisive moment were not opposed. And that is what will go down in history ”. A politician’s praise for the political class – although António Costa himself and the Government have always praised the “maturity” of the other parties – is a novelty. It gives politicians a “lion’s share” in the miracle.
Then, although not dedicating so much time, he referred to doctors and workers in essential sectors, those who “demonstrate that it is priceless to dedicate everything, but even everything, to saving lives or helping those who save them and guaranteeing the basics of life. our daily lives ”. He also made reference, of course, to the Portuguese for having anticipated everything: “If this is a miracle, as the others out there say, then we Portuguese people are a miracle alive for almost nine centuries“.
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