Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa admits to supporting the Government if it is necessary to proceed with more restrictive measures of the State of Emergency. Leaving a visit to the Hospital de Santa Maria as part of the campaign for the presidential candidates, he said he did not want to speak as President of the Republic, but ended up admitting the scenario, "more if not for a political signal to the Portuguese".
“We have to look week by week and if we need to rethink measures, the Government will naturally have the support of the President of the Republic for this reweighting. More than a political signal to the Portuguese, ”he said in statements to journalists, transmitted by RTP3, this Sunday at the exit of Santa Maria.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa admitted that there is a “problem of understanding, of communicating the gravity of the situation, but there is also a problem of the Portuguese looking at reality and tending to facilitate it”.
"Tending to facilitate is serious because it means not taking confinement seriously," he said, warning of "pressure on health structures that were not available in March and April" and arguing that "these weeks are decisive".
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stressed that “it is necessary to understand that this situation is not critical, it is very critical. It is naturally very critical for politicians and very critical for the Portuguese in general. It is very critical for politicians because it means that measures have to be analyzed day by day, week by week to see if it is necessary to further restrict confinement to what can be restricted in political measures ”.
“But it is fundamental for the Portuguese, because the Portuguese in the first State of Emergency realized that exceptions were exceptions. The various exceptions were to be used exceptionally, ”he said, calling on the Portuguese to understand the seriousness of the situation. “Either society perceives or politicians naturally go, and the President of the Republic is part of them in function, they realize that in this follow-up and monitoring it may be necessary to go further in closing activities that were still open, if necessary, as a signal to the society, ”he added.
He also stressed that if there are no changes, the State of Emergency could be “much longer, the confinement much longer, but above all, however, it causes situations of beings, pre-rupture or punctual rupture and then multiplied”.
