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One hundred years have gone by from the day that, in this same place, the Republic was proclaimed.

The passing of time allows us today to view the First Republic serenely and at a distance, objectively assessing its bequest.

The triumphant revolution of 5 October 1910 awoke a country that was asleep. The previous regime was showing signs of exhaustion and incapable of finding feasible solutions for the deadlock into which the Country had fallen. This was somehow recognized by the head of the government that fell on 5 October when he stated «I concluded that the fight was not possible. The monarchy was surrounded by republicans and by people who were simply not interested».

It is the perverse linking of these two realities that so often shakes the pillars of a regime: on the one hand, the people’s lack of interest, on the other, the incapability of the politician to find solutions adjusted to the material needs of the country.

To serve the country. This is the essence of republican patriotism. For this reason I would say that commemorating the Republic is, above all, to know how to serve Portugal.

Much is demanded from those who govern a democratic Republic. It is their immediate duty to avert that the citizens face with indifference the actions of the politicians or that they become alien to the fate of the regime in which they live. It is fundamental that politicians, by sheer example, provide the Portuguese with motives to believe in their Republic.

When commemorating the centenary of the Republic, we are commemorating a new civic culture for Portugal. In the genetic code of republicanism there is a culture signalled by the ethics of public service, by truth and transparency in the exercise of political action. An ideal of government and of society where the people occupy high office and enhanced positions due to their merit and their worth, due to the useful contribution they can bring to the country, and not to any privilege awarded by birth or by the networks of influence in which they move.

Portuguese,

If the monarchy, as stated by its last head of government, did not excite the interest of the people, why didn’t the First Republic last longer? If they had such splendid ideals, why did the republican politicians allow themselves to become riddled in conflicts and divisions that ended by leading the country to a dictatorship?

The answer must be given by the historians. But it is well known that the instability of the First Republic was indebted, among other factors, to the absence of a fundamental component: the culture of responsibility.

It is easy to arrive at the conclusion that the Republic was a regime filled with quarrels and fights that meant little to most Portuguese. Fights that were totally secondary compared to the issues that the Country had to face: illiteracy and poverty, economic backwardness, inequalities, external dependence, the entry into the Great War, the unbalanced public accounts.

What are essential are not the politician’s discussions and their fights. One hundred years ago, just as today, the essential is the people’s material living.

Responsibility is one of the basic pillars in a nation’s collective life. All of us, without exception, are called upon to act with a sense of responsibility. From the humblest worker to the most important entrepreneur, from the youngest to the eldest, not omitting those that hold relevant public office, each one of us has to act responsibly in his personal, family and professional life.

Responsibility is, obviously, not a synonym of unanimity. In a free country, each can choose his own way. In an open and plural society there is room for diverse concepts of the world, for different doctrines and creeds, because the Republic is a place of freedom.

Being responsible does dot mean one should abdicate from freedom. On the contrary: only through being responsible can we become truly free.

We have collective responsibilities, as a State that lives together with other States and participates in international organizations.

As citizens of the Republic we have duties of citizenship to observe with the other citizens. In the demand for civility that we must assimilate, for instance, when driving on the roads, in the respect for legitimate authority or in defence of our historic heritage.

Nowadays company’s social responsibilities are more than ever emphasized. A company is a unity of efforts and wills. It is thus demanded from economic agents that particular care should be exercised in the management of their companies, since it is from this factor that, in a very large measure, depends the future of the Country and the future of many workers.

Workers and their representatives, in their turn, must also share this republican civic attitude. From their responsibility depends a desirable settlement with the employers, in order that the best possible solutions are met for everybody.

The civic requisite of responsibility becomes even more intense the greater is the capacity for intervention of each one in collective life. I emphasize the special demands that fall upon the media professionals on the one hand, and on the holders of public office, on the other.

The media performs a relevant role in contemporary society. It informs the citizens but, in addition to this, shapes their opinion. To be responsible there is need of freedom. But, being free and plural, they have the special duty to inform with exemption, with objectivity and with rigour.

However, it is from the holders of public office that much more is demanded as an ethic of responsibility.

The holders of public office, as is the case with politicians, highly placed officers and magistrates, have to rule their actions with very rigorous criteria. Prior to anything else, they must be aware of the realities, study the matters with which they have to lead, possess an adequate knowledge of the issues. In addition, they must be conscious that they are references for society. Their acts, and even their words, can generate confidence and encouragement, but can also contribute to the disrepute of the institutions.

The republican culture of responsibility demands rigour, good sense, prudence and verbal containment, and does not sympathize with passionate public speeches, with words that are uttered without thought of the consequences they might have for the dignity of the institutions.

The President of the Republic, particularly, must maintain special care when speaking, National cohesion, as I stated in my speech on 10 June last, is one of the more precious assets held by Portugal.

A President of the Republic cannot feed divisions. The prime responsibility of the President of the Republic is to unite the Portuguese, instead of imposing his view of the world to a part of the Country.

We can extract several teachings from the centenary Republic. Amongst them there is one with special emphasis: it is not from intransigence that solutions to the issues are born. It is thus imposed that a political commitment is found for the purpose of national cohesion.

A firm and serious commitment, through which each of the several party political forces, without abandoning their diverse perspectives, understand the seriousness of the current time and know how to merit the confidence the people have placed on them.

I will do all in my power in order that the culture of dialogue and responsibility should prevail and allow reaching the understandings necessary for the resolution of the Country’s problems.

Portuguese,

In this year of 2010, we are not just celebrating the centenary of the Republic, but also the 25th anniversary of our adhesion to the European Communities.

The Country changed much and changed for the better, The Portuguese live today incomparably better than they lived 100 years ago. And they also live better than when we adhered to the European Communities.

Because we live better we are more demanding. And it is legitimate that we are so. We are dissatisfied, but this should not be a motive for us to lower our arms. On the contrary, if we are dissatisfied, we have to drive further, we have to be more responsible in our professions, in the defence of our collective assets, in the duties we have towards the community.

We are a free country today, a country that is fully and rightly part of the international community.

The results of the Republic and the results of our participation in the European project are clearly positive. We knew the correct choices that should be taken on the decisive moments. We did not wait for others to resolve our problems.

This is the attitude we have to husband at the present time. An adverse time, without any doubt but, for this same reason, the time that will prove our will to win. .

I am certain that with the inspiring force of this centenary, we shall triumph. Portugal was always the greater when the greater were the challenges it had to overcome. With patriotic ambition, with pride in being Portuguese, we will be able to achieve!

In the name of Portugal, let us celebrate the hundred years of our Republic. It is the people’s celebration, because the Republic belongs to us all.

Thank you.