"Rebelo de Sousa harshly reprimands the prime minister, but does not call elections". This is the title of the newspaper El País for the article that updates the latest developments regarding the political crisis in Portugal. The Spanish newspaper writes that for the Portuguese President of the Republic the desire to "guarantee institutional peace" weighed more than to impose more drastic measures, in what it considers to be the "most visible clash" between Marcelo and António Costa.

El País points out that Marcelo "was direct" in the statement he made to the country, this Thursday when he noted a "fundamental divergence" with the prime minister over João Galamba's performance and the minister's conditions to continue to lead the Infrastructure portfolio. The newspaper goes further, considering that Portugal witnessed a "massive reprimand" live, "at the peak audience time, at 20:00".

The article stresses that the Portuguese President chose not to call elections because "a new electoral campaign, when only a year and three months have passed since the previous one, would be a factor of instability in addition to the situation of economic uncertainty, which was driven by the war in Ukraine and its fallout". On the other hand, writes the journalist Tereixa Constenla, the Portuguese President "fears that the only possibility of there being a change in Government with a Prime Minister from the Social-Democratic Party implies the support of the extreme right, of the Chega party" and that is something that Marcelo "does not want to facilitate".


Change in relationship


The newspaper underlines that the head of state gave António Costa a "tug on the ear", which represents an important change in the relationship between the two. The newspaper recalls that, until now, the institutional relationship between the President and the Prime Minister was so good that it even led the Socialist Party not to support Ana Gomes in the candidacy for the Presidency. "The fact that one is a socialist (Costa) and the other a conservative (Marcelo) has not, until now, caused serious setbacks and the good relationship between the two even led the Socialist Party not to officially support its own candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, Ana Gomes, in the last elections and defending the continuity of Rebelo se Sousa", recalls the newspaper.

In Brazil, there are also echoes of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa's speech. The G1 highlights in the title "President of Portugal does not dissolve Parliament, but says he will be more assertive with the government". The article begins by noting that the last few days have been filled with great "tension" between the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister and that there was the possibility of Marcelo dissolving Parliament, which did not happen.

Reuters news agency, whose service is used by various media throughout the world, reported that the President "warned the Prime Minister", but decided to "maintain Parliament". The text, signed by Sergio Goncalves and Andrei Khalip, states that the President of Portugal issued a "serious warning" to the Prime Minister, after the break in the relationship between the two had put the country "on the verge of a total political crisis".