Dom Duarte Duke of Braganza Advocates National Referendum for Portugal

APPA NEWS, LONDON-UK - At a time when George W. Bush is on the way out at the term of a mandate - according to many - peppered with concessions to big money lobbies and oil groups; and at the same time, Barack Obama proudly struggled to finance his electoral campaign, free from economic and big money lobbyists, Dom Duarte, Duke of Braganza’s interview in 2002 to an Education Portuguese magazine makes compelling reading.

Being Duke of Braganza, thus Head of the Royal House of Portugal and for that reason, the successor in the Crown of Portugal, it is hardly surprising that Dom Duarte advocates the return to a constitutional democratic parliamentary monarchy in Portugal.

Is it a matter of Power then?… Well, hardly really. Dom Duarte is not alone and counts on at least 20% of the Portuguese population who seem to think that way.

For the Duke of Braganza, monarchies are actually similar to republics these days, but have a monarch as head of state, instead of a president and is adamant in his view that a king or queen is far more independent from political parties and economical lobbies than a president.

Having on his shoulders the full weight of almost 900 years of national identity and history, Dom Duarte declares his full awareness of the responsibility and availability to serve the Portuguese people, should theneed arise; and thinks the current situation in which the Portuguese Constitution prohibits any other form of governance but republican, an insult to Democracy, explaining that European monarchies do not have such limitations in their constitutions.

Basically, says the Portuguese “king-in-waiting”, a keen observation of existing modern monarchies demonstrates their benefits, as though kings are not elected, they actually contribute with considerable added-value to democracies, simply because they are more independent and freer than elected presidents. Presidents, Dom Duarte adds, “need political parties and considerable sums of money to be elected or re-elected and for this reason have difficulties in criticizing economic lobby powers, as by doing so, they may incurr into the risk of not being elected at all”.

Furthermore, the Duke of Braganza argues a misconception that in monarchies the biological hazard of a “bad” sovereign makes the case in favour of republican regimes. For Dom Duarte, whilst throughout the 20th century we can find many cases of incompetent, out of balance and mentally “derailed” presidents, there have been no such cases in monarchies, because whilst a president may be elected without being well known to voters, a future king is well known since birth.

As the Duke of Braganza puts it, “the future king is well known since birth and constitutionally, all mechanisms are in place - such as a State Council or Parliament - they can replace him/her with the next in-line of succession to the Throne”.

But kings do not perform executive functions. Governments do. Kings reign and depend on the Constitution, and ultimately their judgement. Dom Duarte believes the Portuguese people actually would prefer a sovereign as head of state. As elections demonstrate, all presidents of Portugal were re-elected, showing a popular preference for stable continuity, but this is “mission impossible” in a republican regime, because presidents are limited to a maximum of two mandates.

Far from being biased, Dom Duarte points out a strong point. Former president of the Portuguese Republic Antonio Eanes stated on a number of occasions that he tried to act like a neutral and independent monarch and there is an ever increasing number of republicans who begin to see the Portuguese Republic would be better served with a monarch as head of state. As far as the Duke is concerned, there is no conflict, but simply an option to be made in regards to what sort of head of state would be better for the Republic. After all, all monarchies in Europe are “republics” with kings or queens as heads of state, a theory that even Portuguese republicans seem to get along with.

The issue though, says the Duke of Braganza, is the prohibition within the Portuguese Constitution, which does not allow any form of government other than republican. The Portuguese Republic, says Dom Duarte, “came into being through a coup, and for this reason falls short in being democratic”. For the successor in the Crown of Portugal, there is no other way but to change the Constitution in order to allow a referendum.

But when confronted with whether he believes the Portuguese will opt for a monarchy, the Duke of Braganza is cautious: “It all depends on how the people is correctly and honestly informed and the honesty of the question being asked to the Portuguese. A biased question - as in the recent abortion referendum - may purposely lead to the desired answer”.

However, one thing is for certain. There is no bias in regards to Dom Duarte’s understanding of a modern constitutional monarch, when questioned to what the role entails. According to the Duke, “Kings do not interfere publicly, their interventions are private. They have a profound knowledge of problems and issues and assist in their resolution together with governments, oppositions and other social partners”.

Interview given to “Educação Magazine”, 2002.

EU Commission President Durao Barroso Hails Barack Obama

APPA NEWS, LONDON - UK - European Union Commission President José Manuel Durão Barroso has been quick, in fact one of the very first to salute President elect of the United States of America, Barack Obama, on what is being estimated in political circles around the World, as a huge landslide victory!

According to British newswires, Mr Durão Barroso has sent messages of congratulations to the newly elected President of the United States saying that “Senator Obama will be taking office at a critical juncture. There are many pressing challenges facing the international community, including the global financial crisis and global warming.”

However politically correct, the move is nonetheless a surprising 360 degrees twist, as it is historically well known that Mr Barroso played host at the Azores Summit, which he proposed himself, to Toni Blair and President George W. Bush, days before America and

 the UK embarked on the War against Iraq.

Mr Durão Barroso, who was at the time the Portuguese Prime Minister, became the nominee of choice for the presidency of the European Commission, shortly after.

Popular memory may be short, but journalism must remain independent and recall the record of that day, 16 of March 2003, when José Manuel Durão Barroso, Toni Blair, José Maria Aznar and George W. Bush met to come up with a declarative statement on the issue of Iraq, which, we may agree, presented some Peace rhetoric, courtesy of Mr Barroso, together with enough jargon about weapons of mass destruction which never

existed, based upon intelligence, which was wrong, despite United Nations resolutions that condemned Iraq but did not convey a licence to invade or go to war and ultimately, against scores and scores in Public Opinion, strongly opposed to war in Iraq, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Doubtless, five years later, Mr Barroso is right about the new USA President elect taking office “at a critical juncture”.

We are wondering and keen to find out indeed, whose “juncture” ?… Barack Obama’s?… Or Mr Barroso’s himself?

For a full transcript of the Azores Summit, 16 March 2003, click here.