Algumas
vozes internacionais começam a sugerir que Portugal poderia encarar o
seu futuro, modificando o dispositivo de poderes de que dispõe. Num
artigo do Economonitor, uma prestigiada publicação on line associada ao Projeto de Nouriel Roubini,
um dos poucos economistas que previu e explicou com antecedência a
Grande Recessão que se vive desde 2008, o consultor internacional Jaime
Pozuelo-Monfort, autor de The Monfort Plan,
refere que se deveria considerar um “outsider” como possível Chefe de
Estado para garantir a independência do país face às imposições da
troika aos partidos políticos portugueses.
The Republic’s King
Portugal is one of Europe’s oldest nations. It became a Kingdom when
it split from the Kingdom of León in 1143.
It has been a Republic since
1910. As in many other Republics there is a heir to the throne who
claims to be the legitimate successor of the once upon a time King. Dom
Duarte the Duke of Bragança is the Republic’s King to be.
The
nineteenth century was also a time of agitation and revolts in Portugal.
Portugal was a Kingdom during all of its history until the
assassination of King Carlos I and his oldest son Luis Felipe on 1
February 1908. The assassination known as the Lisbon regicide was
carefully planned and counted with the partial involvement of
Carbonária, an anti-monarchy society allied with the Italian Carbonari.
The assassinations put an end to the Monarchy which still survived until
the 5 October 1910 Revolution when Portugal’s Republican Party
successfully conducted a coup d’etat initiating a republican regime on
the Iberian country which has remained ever since.
Similar changes in
neighbouring Spain would take off in April 1931 when the Republican
Parties obtained a majority in the municipal elections which triggered
an exit from the country of King Alfonso XIII and the inauguration of
the Spanish Second Republic on 14 April 1931.
Portugal remained a
Republic during the rule of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar between 1932 and
1968, as Prime Minister of an authoritarian regime which he founded
called Estado Novo. The death of Oliveira Salazar in 1970 and the final
stages of the independence wars in Angola and Mozambique precipitated
the fall of the dictatorial regime “Estado Novo” during the Carnation
Revolution on 25 April 1974 and the transition to what is today the
Portuguese democratic republican regime. Oliveira Salazar remains the
greatest Portuguese today as per public support.
Portugal’s President
of the Republic is chosen once every five years. The French used to
choose their President once every seven years which they recently
changed to five years in order to avoid cohabitation. A President of the
Republic may hold its post for a maximum of ten years in Portugal and
ailleurs.
However when the list of Presidents of the Republic is
reviewed, Portugal shows very little choice. Most often a former Prime
Minister runs for President of the Republic and gets elected. Would it
be possible for an outsider to become President of the Republic, let’s
say for instance for the late José Saramago or for coach José Mourinho
(arguably Portugal’s best-known non-political individuals
internationally)?
For instance out of Portugal’s four Presidents of
the Republic inaugurated since the Carnation Revolution in 1975, two
have previously been Prime Ministers, notably Mario Soares and the
current President Anibal António Cavaco Silva.
About one out of three
Portuguese supports the Monarchy today according to the Portuguese Casa
Real. The only referendum that the Portuguese Constitution forbids is
precisely that of republic vs. monarchy (Article 288: As leis de revisão
constitucional terão de respeitar b) A forma republicana de governo).
Today’s President of the Republic is not in dire straits. But Portugal
and the political leadership in the country is in dire straits. The
troika has stepped in and commands Portugal from Brussels and
Washington. And the Portuguese remain afraid of Madrid’s centralism when
Madrid has not shown any interest in Portugal in decades. To see it is
to believe it.
Seen from abroad and particularly from Spain, Anibal
António Cavaco Silva is an impeccable and intellectually gifted
President of the Republic. Dr Cavaco Silva completed his Ph.D. in
Economics from the University of York in the United Kingdom in 1973 and
became Full Professor at Universidad Católica before being appointed
President of the Republic. He is multilingual, contrary to any of the
Prime Ministers inaugurated in Spain since Franco’s death (except for
Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo who was not democratically elected but appointed
in the aftermath of the 1981 coup d’etat). However Dr Cavaco Silva’s
popularity is in free fall as it is that of many other Presidents and
Premiers in the European Union including France’s François Hollande.
One
hundred years after the Lisbon regicide of 1908, the Portuguese
celebrated the anniversary with a gathering in Lisbon city center. Dom
Duarte participated in an event with no official participation of the
Portuguese Republic. The dilemma, the division moves on.
There is no
doubt that Portugal is and should remain a Republic. But why wouldn’t a
republic have a King? Reypública provides an answer to this dilemma,
whether Dom Duarte who was born in 1945 or his 17-year oldest son Afonso
could become King in our lifetime. To dream or not to dream, that is
the question.
The Portuguese in the meantime will continue to be
ruled by the troika from Brussels and Washington. José Manuel Durao
Barroso, once Portugal’s Prime Minister and the ongoing President of the
European Commission, continues to be the de-facto President although
his residence is no longer Lisbon, but Brussels. Long live the
King-to-be Dom Duarte de Bragança, whether he ascends to throne or not
during his lifetime. If José Saramago was right we will see the
Republic’s King taking over one day for the benefit of the Republic.
Fonte:IDP
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