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Good evening,

Tomorrow, the Portuguese will be called upon to choose their members of the European Parliament.

This is a very important election for Portugal.

The European Union is vital for the economic and social development of the Country and for our international projection and influence.

For this reason I appeal all electors to exercise your voting rights.

I am well aware that in the past, high levels of abstaining have been recorded in the elections to the European Parliament, and that forecasts estimate that the same may occur tomorrow.

The reasons why we should vote are several and sufficiently relevant.

The European Parliament is the sole European institution with directly elected representatives.

The European Union, this union of democracies in which we belong, can only really fulfil itself with the citizens’ participation.

During four days, approximately 380 million electors from the Union’s 28 countries elect their members in the European Parliament, in that which is a unique election in the whole World.

In the last sixty years, the European Community contributed decisively towards peace and development in Europe. Peace is a precious asset which must never be ignored nor taken for granted.

On the other hand, countries like Portugal benefited, in the last few decades, from European programmes that greatly contributed towards the improvement in the living conditions of the people and to the Country’s progress in the most diverse fields, such as education and qualification of the Portuguese or the modernization of economic activities and of national and local infrastructures.

Consequently, the elections to a Parliament where nearly 500 million European citizens are represented are a fundamental feature of participation in the European construction and in the defence of our national interests.

It is essential that the voices of the peoples of European, with their diversity, cultures and social realities, but also with their legitimate common anxieties and ambitions, be heard in the congregation where the representatives of the 28 Member States convene.

Europe has a greater than ever impact in the daily life of the Portuguese and it should be emphasized that the European Parliament has more powers than ever in Europe. The role to be performed and the work to be developed by the members of the Parliament are particularly relevant.

It is thus fundamental, I must insist, that we actively take part in choosing our representatives and make our voice heard on behalf of Europe and of Portugal.

Forty years ago, with the April 25 revolution, the Portuguese achieved the right to vote in free and democratic elections. We dreamt that we would live in a country nearer to Europe, with its standards of well-being, with its values of democracy and freedom. We have to continue following this objective.

The electoral campaign has reached its end. As I stated in my message on 19 March, that was the period in which the political parties had the opportunity to clearly inform the Portuguese, calmly and uprightly, with a sense of responsibility, on the challenges that Europe will be facing in the following years and on the role that the European parliament will play in this historic moment that is so crucial for all of us.

Not to vote tomorrow is abdicating from a right, a fundamental right in the choices that induce the future of Europe.

I appeal that all Portuguese that, tomorrow, through their vote, should take part in choosing the members of the European Parliament.

I with you all a very good evening and the exercise of your right to vote.