Portugal’s parliament this Friday approved the president’s official visit to London, the coronation of Carlos III in May and South Africa, and Portugal Day celebrations in June.
Delegates also approved the head of state’s trips to Yuste, Spain to present the European Carlos V Prize to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. European Parliament, both in May.
At the invitation of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s visit to South Africa between 4 and 9 June, an official visit and commemoration of Portugal, Camos and Portuguese Communities Day, was unanimously approved.
The other three trips, between May 5 and 10, were voted together and approved with a vote of the left-wing bloc, whose parliamentary president, Pedro Felipe Soares, said the vote was due to the visit of the head of state. London for the coronation of the King of the United Kingdom.
In a letter to the Assembly of the Republic, the head of state indicates that he plans to travel to London between May 5 and 6, to Yuste in Spain between May 8 and 9, and to Strasbourg between May 9 and 10.
Parliamentary approval of the President’s foreign trips is a formality imposed by the Constitution, which establishes that the President cannot leave the national territory without the approval of Parliament.
This year, the official celebrations of Portugal Day will take place in Peso da Regua, Vila Real district and in South Africa, where oenologist João Nicola de Almeida will head the organizing committee.
“The President of the Republic has decided to designate Peso da Regua as the site of commemoration of the Day of Portugal, Camos and Portuguese Communities in 2023, extending the celebrations to Portuguese communities in South Africa,” it announced. President in January.
When he assumed the head of state, in 2016, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, together with Prime Minister Antonio Costa, launched an unprecedented model of twin commemorations on June 10, first in Portugal, with the participation of both. and later with Portuguese communities abroad.
In 2016, Portugal, Camos and Portuguese Communities Day was celebrated between Lisbon and Paris, in 2017 between Porto and Brazil, in 2018 between the Azores and America and in 2019 between Portalegre and Cape Verde.
In 2020, June 10 celebrations were planned for South Africa, along with Madera, but the head of state decided to cancel them due to the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic, choosing instead to “symbolically mark” the date. Ceremony at Jeronimos Monastery in Lisbon”.
The celebration of the date in the autonomous region of Madeira ended in 2021, in the city of Funchal, but without celebrations abroad that year.
Last year, Portugal Day celebrations took place in Prague and with Portuguese communities in the United Kingdom.
