The new President of Portugal expressly thanks King Felipe VI for attending his inauguration

Eduardo González King Felipe VI attended the inauguration of Portugal's new President, António José Seguro, on Monday, March 9. In his inaugural address, Seguro expressly thanked the Spanish monarch for his presence at the ceremony, which he said revealed the "deep friendship, close ties, and cooperation that unite Portugal and Spain." Born in 1962 and a former Deputy Prime Minister under António Guterres (current UN Secretary-General), the socialist António José Seguro succeeds the conservative Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who is leaving the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic after ten years. Felipe VI received Rebelo de Sousa in Madrid on February 20, during his last official visit to Spain before leaving office. On February 8, Seguro won a resounding victory in the second round of the presidential elections against the far-right candidate André Ventura. This is the most resounding victory achieved to date by a Portuguese president, surpassing the 70 percent of the vote won by fellow socialist Mário Soares in the 1991 elections. During his inauguration, the new Portuguese president thanked his predecessor for his “dedication to Portugal and to defending the national interest” and assured him that he would be the “president of all Portugal.” “I will do everything possible to foster understanding between the parties,” he stated. Seguro also expressly thanked King Felipe VI for attending his inauguration. “His presence honors us and strengthens the foundations of deep friendship, closeness, and cooperation that unite Portugal and Spain,” he affirmed. “I know that we both prefer roads to borders, the synergies that unite territories, unite people, and transform our proximity into a relationship of friendship and cooperation,” he continued. “The relationship between Portugal and Spain has demonstrated that it is possible to build lasting convergences when the desire for a shared destiny prevails, a desire I renew here on behalf of Portugal,” he added. On the international stage, Seguro emphasized the importance of multilateralism in these times when “man is wolf to man” and when the law of the strongest prevails over the rule of law. Besides the King of Spain, other leaders from Portuguese-speaking countries attended the event, including João Lourenço (Angola), José Maria Neves (Cape Verde), Daniel Chapo (Mozambique), Carlos Vila Nova (São Tomé and Príncipe), and José Ramos-Horta (Timor-Leste). King Felipe VI's attendance comes just three days after the celebration of the XXXVI Spanish-Portuguese Summit, which took place at the La Rábida Monastery in Palos de la Frontera (Huelva), chaired by the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the Portuguese Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro. At the summit, the Spanish and Portuguese governments pledged to strengthen the fight against the impact of climate change on the Iberian Peninsula, including the prevention of extreme phenomena such as floods, fires, and heat waves, and advocated for the need to expand and modernize energy interconnections with the rest of Europe.

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