Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who a year ago on this date focused his speech on the memory of the colonial past, today dedicated his speech at the solemn session commemorating the 48th anniversary of the 25th of April to the Armed Forces, highlighting the ongoing war in Ukraine, invaded by Russian forces 60 days ago.

"Why am I on this 25th of April speaking of our Armed Forces in a democracy that we have to recreate day after day? Because without the Armed Forces, and strong Armed Forces united and motivated, our peace, our security, our freedom, our democracy, dreams of the 25th of April, will become weaker", said the head of state before the Assembly of the Republic.

"Because recognising how important the Armed Forces are in our life as a country requires more than remembering their importance in words. Because if we want strong, united, motivated Armed Forces, we have to want them to have the conditions to be even stronger, united and motivated", he added.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa argued that giving "more essential means" to the Armed Forces "is not being right-wing or left-wing, conservative or progressive, moderate or radical, it's being purely and simply a patriot, in freedom and democracy."

"And doing this is not just the task of a President, a parliament, a Government. It requires a continued and effective national consensus on the Armed Forces as a crucial pillar of our collective life", he defended.