According to a source from the Presidency of the Republic, this year the head of State, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, decided not to appoint an organizing committee for June 10 -- normally chaired by a personality linked to the headquarters of the commemorations -- because the program is spread over four municipalities in the country and he does not want to highlight any one to the detriment of others. The Presidency of the Republic today released a note about the program of these commemorations of Portugal Day, Camões Day, and the Portuguese Communities, which officially begin on Sunday, June 9, the day of the elections for the European Parliament. These will be the first commemorations of Portugal Day that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will celebrate with the current prime minister, Luís Montenegro, with whom he will then be in Switzerland, starting on Tuesday, June 11, with Portuguese emigrant communities. "The commemorations begin on June 9, at the Memorial in Homage to the Victims of the 2017 Forest Fires, with the ceremony of raising the national flag, followed by a tribute to the victims of the 2017 forest fires. At the end of the morning, a mass will be celebrated in Figueiró dos Vinhos dedicated to the victims," reads the note released today. Still on the 9th, "in the afternoon, in Castanheira de Pera, the presentation of greetings from the diplomatic corps to the President of the Republic will take place, followed by a reception" and at night there will be "a concert and a multimedia show at Praia das Rocas, in Castanheira de Pera". On June 10, Monday, the Military Ceremony Commemorating Portugal Day will be held in Pedrógão Grande, in which the President of the Republic will give a speech, and "in which more than 1,300 military personnel from the three branches of the Armed Forces will participate". Next, "the President of the Republic, accompanied by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, will leave for Coimbra for the celebrations of the 500 years of Camões". The celebrations of the fifth centenary of the birth of the poet Luís Vaz de Camões begin on this June 10, the day of his death, and the inaugural ceremony, at the University of Coimbra, was included in the program of official commemorations of Portugal Day. At the University of Coimbra, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa "will visit the Joanina Library and preside over the Evocative Ceremony of the 500 years of Camões, ending the day with a musical show in the Pátio das Escolas". The Presidency of the Republic adds that "on the morning of the following day, the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister will leave for Switzerland to continue the commemorations of Portugal Day, Camões Day, and the Portuguese Communities of 2024", with stops in Geneva, Bern, and Zurich. The fire that broke out on June 17, 2017, in Pedrógão Grande, in the district of Leiria, and which spread to neighboring municipalities, caused 66 deaths and more than 250 injuries, seven of them serious, destroyed half a thousand homes and 50 businesses. When he assumed the head of State in 2016, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa launched, in coordination with the then Prime Minister, António Costa, and with the participation of both, an unprecedented model of double commemorations of June 10, first in Portugal and then with Portuguese communities abroad. In 2016, Portugal Day, Camões Day, and the Portuguese Communities were celebrated between Lisbon and Paris, in 2017 between Porto and Brazil, in 2018 between the Azores and the United States of America, and in 2019 between Portalegre and Cape Verde. In 2020, due to the covid-19 pandemic, only one ceremony was held at the Jerónimos Monastery, in Lisbon, and in 2021 there were also only commemorations on national territory, in Madeira. In 2022 the commemorations were in Braga and the United Kingdom, and in 2023 in Peso da Régua, district of Vila Real, and in South Africa. Read Also: June 10. Marcelo awards three personalities and one association (Portuguese version)