Portuguese president call for "inter-party compromises"

Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva on Saturday called for "indispensable inter-party compromises" to guarantee political stability.

"After four decades of democracy, political agents should understand once and for all, that the need for inter-party compromises is intrinsic for our political system,"Anibal Cavaco Silva said at the parliament in a speech marking Portugal's 41st anniversary of the Carnation revolution.

He added that the country was facing many challenges but was now a country with "balanced external accounts" and was "respected" and "credible."

With under six months away from the general elections, Cavaco Silva called for inter-party consensus in justice reforms, adding that no one was "above the law."

The leader of the main opposition Socialist Party, Antonio Costa, sneered at the president's remarks on Saturday.

"Nobody will ask Socialist party for compromises, consensus or conciliation with the policy we want to change...(The President) should look to the country with exemption and in an inspiring way," Antonio Costa said, adding that the country's main problems were poverty and unemployment.

The leader of the Communist Party, Jeronimo de Sousa, said Cavaco Silva's speech was "a weak testament" and "merely an appeal to save the policy of the right."

A number of commemorations are taking place in Lisbon this Saturday to commemorate the fall of the dictatorship that took place on April 25, 1974, including parades and cultural events. Endit