The Committee on Foreign Affairs scheduled for Monday the vote on the authorization of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s trip to Qatar, for Portugal’s debut in the World Cup. PS and PSD already assured that they will give green light trip.
The vote was scheduled to take place only after the departure of the President of the Republic —since Parliament was exclusively in budgetary mode—, but the controversy over the presidential trip to the World Cup precipitated the deputies to move towards this solution.
The meeting of the Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. this Monday, after the President of the Republic himself has placed the burden of the trip on the authorization of the deputies, something that, moreover, is constitutionally enshrined. This is a last minute appointment, taking into account that during the discussion of the General State Budget the remaining parliamentary work is interrupted. In other words, under normal conditions this vote would only take place after Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa left for Qatar.
Even so, and despite the fact that this time Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has given special weight to the decision of the Assembly of the Republic —in an authorization that, being mandatory, never raised any problems—, the two big parties have already confirmed that they will approve the displacement.
The parliamentary leader of the PS, Eurico Brilhante Dias, told Rádio Renascença that “the President’s request is part of a framework of his willingness to go” and that “the Assembly of the Republic, as a sovereign body, is not at stake travel guarantor???????? For Eurico Brilhante Dias, the reasons given are valid, highlighting “the support for the national team, Portugal’s candidacy for the 2030 World Cup and the trip of the President of the Republic do not change the facts” about Qatar.
Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, who shares a panel with Brilhante Dias on Rádio Renascença, said that “the PSD will vote favorably as it has always voted for any trip or absence, for this and all other presidents” and that “the PSD has never voted against a trip by a president since 1976.”
In addition to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s trip, the President of the Assembly of the Republic and the Prime Minister will also travel to Qatar to watch the national team’s matches, in an “institutional representation scale” that has been used in major competitions that involve the national soccer team.
During the day, Iniciativa Liberal, Bloco de Esquerda and PAN demonstrated against the trip of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, with the blocists presenting a vote to Parliament to raise awareness of the Government so that it does not travel to Qatar.
Source: Observadora
