Aguiar-Branco rejects housing 'popular assemblies' and signs Mozambique parliament protocol

Housing protests in the spotlight

José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, president of Portugal's Assembly of the Republic, criticised 'popular assemblies' held around the housing crisis during an official visit to Mozambique. Speaking to journalists in Maputo on Monday, 9 November, he said such gatherings had never solved problems in history. He urged parties not to give in to the temptation of moving legislative work onto the street. Answering a question from Lusa, he argued that legitimacy comes from the ballot box and that housing policy needs less ideology and more concrete proposals capable of broad consensus in the chamber.

“It is in Parliament that the legitimacy lies, which comes from the ballot box, from the votes of the Portuguese in free, direct and universal elections, precisely to legislate.”

A court ruling on a tent in Rossio

The protest also has a legal dimension. The Lisbon Administrative Court had authorised activist Renata Cambra to keep a protest tent in the Rossio square, but that authorisation is now suspended after an appeal from the Public Prosecutor's Office (Ministério Público). Cambra's lawyer, Leonor Caldeira, told Lusa that the court granted suspensive effect for now and left the final decision on the appeal to the Constitutional Court, which should rule with the utmost urgency. Caldeira added that the Ministry of Internal Administration assured the court it would comply with the decision. Asked about the ruling at the Portuguese School of Mozambique, Aguiar-Branco declined to assess the specific case.

“The law applies to everyone, and the law, until it is declared unconstitutional, has its full force.”

He added that nobody stands above the law, neither protesters, nor the government, nor himself, nor any journalist. Decisions, he said, must rest on the legal framework in force.

Protocol with Mozambique's parliament

Aguiar-Branco and Margarida Talapa, president of Mozambique's parliament, signed a cooperation protocol in Maputo on the same day. The document aims to deepen and consolidate cultural, friendship and cooperation ties, and to strengthen political dialogue, technical capacity-building including in artificial intelligence, and coordination between the two legislative bodies. Under the agreement, the parties will organise bilateral meetings between the two presidents, periodic meetings between their parliamentary bodies, and reciprocal visits by delegations and friendship groups. Seminars, colloquia and conferences on shared interests are also planned. Technical staff will exchange missions and good practice on the legislative process, administrative and financial management, citizen openness and new technologies, and the text also refers to strengthening the resilience of IT systems and digital archives.

Polarisation, Cabo Delgado and youth

Speaking in a plenary session of Mozambique's parliament, Aguiar-Branco argued that parliaments do not cause polarisation but reflect the divisions already present in society. He urged lawmakers to work from those divisions, cooperate and overcome distrust, and said that politics in a democracy serves to prevent war rather than prolong it. He also raised Cabo Delgado, the gas-rich northern province where an armed insurgency since 2017 has caused more than 6,600 deaths and 1.3 million internally displaced people, according to international organisations. He called extremism and terrorism unacceptable in a free society.

At Eduardo Mondlane University, the largest higher-education institution in Mozambique, he gave a lecture on the role of parliaments in the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) over 30 years of cooperation and dialogue. He stressed that the community rests on people, language, culture, economy and mobility among its members.

“I ask you all, especially the younger ones, not to give up on the Portuguese-speaking project, not to give up on this dream.”

He urged young people to bring their ideas to the community and reach consensus through debate, while respecting the majority that democracy produces. He also praised youth projects such as Parlamento Jovem as a way to encourage civic participation within formal rules and institutions.