Early in the morning, as an initiative of the European Parliament's Left Group, MEPs from this political family, namely from the Left Bloc and the PCP, distributed about a thousand carnations outside the assembly, to MEPs, assistants and visitors who were present on what is the last day of the current legislature's (2019-2024) plenary session.

Inside the Parliament, before the last vote of the legislature, at the entrance to the hemicycle, the European Socialists group also promoted a moment of celebration, with a family photo, which was joined by MEPs from various political forces and nationalities, who sang the emblematic song of the revolution more than once and shouted "fascism never again".

With the European elections on the horizon (06 to 09 June), and when a strong rise of the extreme right is anticipated, which 'threatens' to significantly increase its representation in the European Parliament, the MEPs of the Left group stressed the importance of defending the values of April, in the face of the risk of setbacks.

"We are living in times in Europe when there are more and more political forces that want to attack democracy, or are already attacking democracy. We have attacks on freedom of expression, on fundamental rights that we thought were acquired and irreversible, such as women's rights, minority rights, and also problems at the level of citizens with things as fundamental as a dignified life, the right to housing, the right to health and education", said José Gusmão, from the Left Bloc, to Lusa.

The Left Bloc MEP argued that "remembering the 25th of April is important to understand that democracy is not only political representation and a set of fundamental political rights, it is also a broader set of rights that constitute it, and if these rights are not respected, not defended, not extended, the risk of a return to the past remains".

"And this European Parliament, even in its current composition, is there to remind us of that. Yesterday we had a debate on the denial of dictatorships, in which we had far-right MEPs defending regimes that we thought had been defeated forever. And they can be defeated forever, but we have to mobilise ourselves", he concluded.

For João Pimenta Lopes, from the PCP, "it is fundamental, even in the face of what still needs to be fulfilled from the April Revolution", to mark the 50 years of the 25th of April, "remembering what those greater values were, that greater transformative process in the life of Portugal and the Portuguese, and the values that are projected into the future of the country's development, but also of the development of the peoples of Europe".

According to the communist MEP, the Carnation Revolution should be "a reference and an example of the possibilities of transformation, at a particularly grey moment in history, where setbacks seem to occur almost daily", at a social and labour level, but also "from the point of view of access to culture, to sport", which is why, also in the face of the "shadow of fascism and war, it is all the more important to mark, remember and evoke this day and that greater moment, those values that are projected from April".

Inside the Parliament, at the entrance to the hemicycle shortly before the start of the last vote of the legislature, the Socialist group organised a small event, also distributing carnations and small posters, which was joined by MEPs from different political forces and nationalities.

"It is a symbolic moment of great significance for all of us, at the conclusion of this legislature. We are here to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April in the heart of the European Parliament, here in Strasbourg", commented to Lusa the MEP Isabel Santos, from the PS, who, with the European elections on the horizon, also left "a great appeal for the preservation of democratic values, for a conscious, critical vote and in defence of the European project".

Also present at the small evocative ceremony, Lídia Pereira, a 31-year-old MEP from the PSD, stressed the fact that she is "a granddaughter of freedom", which is why "if it were not for the freedom of the 25th of April, I would not be able to be here today exercising my duties as an MEP".

"The 25th of April was fundamental for the Portuguese to have the opportunity to develop, to consolidate, to grow together with their membership of the European Union, and I believe that this is what we are also celebrating here", she told Lusa.

At the beginning of the last voting session of the current legislature, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, also began her speech by marking the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April in Strasbourg, France, stating that it is an "inspiring" day and that it recalls the need to continue to defend "fundamental European values".

"It is a moment in European history that still reverberates and inspires today, a day when democracy, freedom and dignity returned to their place in Portugal, and which reminds us that we should never take these fundamental European values for granted. Therefore, the symbolism of today's day is all the more significant as we gather for the last voting session of this 9th legislature of the European Parliament", she declared

Leia Também: Charles Michel celebrates the 25th of April, which initiated the transition to democracy (Portuguese version)