The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, meets this Tuesday with the Council of State, having as his guest the Special Envoy of the President of the United States for Climate, Senator John Kerry, the Belém Palace announced this Friday.
The holding of this meeting of the political body for consultation of the Head of State, at the Palácio da Cidadela in Cascais, coincides with the celebration in Lisbon of the United Nations Conference on the Oceans, between Monday and Friday.
“The meeting will address the perspectives, challenges and opportunities of the fight against climate change and the energy transition, with the Special Envoy of the President of the United States of America for Climate, Senator John Kerry, as a guest,” reads the statement. note published on the website of the Presidency of the Republic.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s invitation to John Kerry to participate in the State Council meeting was made on February 11 at a meeting that both held in Brest, France, on the sidelines of the “One Ocean” international summit, promoted by the French presidency. of the European Union.
The President of the Republic said that at that time the former US Secretary of State, current special envoy of President Joe Biden for climate issues, would be in Lisbon for the United Nations Conference on the Oceans, organized by Portugal together with Kenya.
Since he became head of state in March 2016, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has increased the frequency of meetings of the Council of State, his political consultative body, and has innovated by inviting foreign and Portuguese personalities to the meetings of this body.
The first guest was the former president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, in April 2016.
Presided over by the President of the Republic, the Council of State has as inherent members the holders of the positions of President of the Assembly of the Republic, Prime Minister, President of the Constitutional Court, Ombudsman, Presidents of regional governments and former Presidents. of the Republic.
Under the terms of the Constitution, it is also made up of five citizens appointed by the Head of State, for the period corresponding to the duration of their mandate, and five elected by the Assembly of the Republic, in accordance with the principle of proportional representation, for the period corresponding to the duration of the legislature.
At the beginning of his second term, on March 9, 2021, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa appointed the writer Lídia Jorge as Counselor of State and renamed the former leader of the CDS-PP António Lobo Xavier, the former president of the PSD Luís Marques Mendes, the president of Champalimaud Foundation, Leonor Beleza, and neuroscientist António Damásio.
After the legislative elections on January 30 of this year, the Assembly of the Republic must elect five new members of the Council of State in the new legislature.
Source: Observadora
