The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, reacted on Wednesday to the decision on the new airport, which will be located in Alcochete.

"We have the announcement of a decision. And what is more, the announcement of a decision with an agreement between the two largest Portuguese parties. This is so rare, so rare, so rare, that I must register it and I hope it is confirmed - the works on the existing airport and the confirmation of the start of the future airport. They are talking about ten years... so that I can still see and use the future airport as a citizen", he told journalists in Lisbon.

Asked if he was satisfied with the announcement of the decision on the new location, which will be in Alcochete, Marcelo was assertive: "I was happy with the announcement of the decision. More than 50 years have passed since the start of the process, 50 years in Democracy, and it has the agreement of the two main parties, which had different solutions at different times in the exercise of their functions. I think this is promising. We all hope that it can be achieved", he stressed, underlining that he "believes" that there will be a new airport in ten years.

"With this decision - which involves two main parties, an Independent Technical Commission and a long process of maturation - I think it has all the conditions to be successful", he said.

At the Camões high school, where he gave a class on Wednesday, the Head of State was asked what lesson he would give to a party that accuses a President of betraying the Portuguese, in a reference to the urgent debate called by Chega, which took place this morning. "You already know that I will not comment on party issues during the election period. And, on the other hand, you also know that I have a very open position on Democracy, which must allow freedom of expression of thought, opinion and initiative - even in relation to bodies of power that are critical of sovereign bodies. All this is part of democracy", he replied.

Marcelo was also confronted with the statements of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, who in his speech in Parliament said that there was no place for reparations, but rather for reconciliations, namely apologies and the introduction of Creole courses, for example. Marcelo responded by recalling the communiqué issued by the Government after his statements, which stated that "no specific action was planned in the context of reparations. "There is total harmony. Governments change, and they have very different initiatives in this matter. The previous government had some, this one others, and the future one will have others", he said.

On Tuesday, the Government announced that Humberto Delgado Airport will undergo works to operate with greater capacity while the new airport - in Alcochete - is not operational, which should happen in a decade. Find out all the details of the Executive's 'plan'.  

[News updated at 13:40]

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