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Today, in the city of Guarda, we celebrate the National Day of Portugal.

This is a festivity of all the Portuguese.

On this day, we commemorate a Country, we celebrate a Nation but, more than anything else a people, ours - the Portuguese people.
The National Day of Portugal is also the Day of the Portuguese Communities, the festive occasion when we greet our Diaspora.

A country is much more than just a territory. Portugal is, above all, the people it comprises, the Portuguese who live at home and abroad, the citizens of other countries that decided to live and work amongst us. This is our greatest wealth: we are not just a sole but also a plural country, a cohesive community that is simultaneously diverse; a culture made up of several cultures.

Portuguese,
In this year of 2014, we conquered the right to hope.

Portugal complied with the commitments it took on in May 2011 with the international institutions that provided the necessary loans to finance the State and the economy. The programme of financial assistance was concluded in the past month of May.

Wi lived in a situation of national emergency, which demanded from the Portuguese an extraordinary sense of responsibility.

It was a very hard process. We lived very difficult times, but we did not lose the courage of hope or the will to conquer. As has always been the case throughout History, and particularly in these four decades of democracy, the Portuguese people showed an exemplary civic maturity.

We have now entered a new stage in our national life, which I have designated as «post-troika», calling on everybody’s attention to the need of preparedness for the new challenges we will have to face.

Now, with the sacrifices we all had to suffer, it is possible to look towards the future with better hope and renewed confidence.

We must, however, keep a very clear notion of two realities that cannot be ignored.

Firstly, we are well aware that the critical stage we went through left deep marks and sequels. We must thus remain attentive and vigilant, specifically in the issue of public accounts and control of foreign indebtedness, in order not to again fall into an «explosive situation», a risk to which some alerted Portugal in due time.

The Portuguese wish that their Country never again finds itself in a situation similar to what it had reached in May 2011. There is need for great prudence. A clear and responsible conduct is demanded from all politicians, that meets the legitimate ambitions of progress and well-being of our people.

Secondly, we must be conscious that we are now able to view the future with greater confidence, but without jubilations or illusions. We complied with the liabilities we assumed and avoided bankruptcy. The emergency scenario was removed from our horizon. We showed the World that Portugal is a credible country and that the Portuguese honour their word.

The uncertainties that hovered over our economy are now lessened. There are reasons to be hopeful in the recovery of investment. The economic re-launching of the European Union, by far the main market for our exports, is on a sustained course.

But we must not forget that Portugal is an open economy, which greatly depends from external effects.

We cannot throw away the capital of credibility that we conquered with the cost of so many sacrifices, but we also have the right to expect from European institutions the solidarity and support which we were able to deserve thanks to our sense of responsibility. Equally, we conquered the right to demand that greater priority is given to a European agenda guided towards economic growth and creation of employment.

The future keeps for us, I am certain, many difficult decisions, because we cannot forget the rules of budgetary discipline to which all Member-States of the Euro Zone are subject. But if the political parties reveal the same patriotic spirit demonstrated by our people, such decisions may be taken in a more serene and confident environment.

Portuguese,
In times of great difficulties which we have been and continue going through, we did not resign, we did not lower our arms.

Because we had the courage to hope, we now have to provide the Portuguese with reasons to hope. It is a legitimate hope, because it was deserved after so many sacrifices.

If we all have the right to hope, we must especially consider those that find greater difficulty in getting their voices heard.

To start with, the aged, the retired and the pensioners, those that arrived at the end of their working life and earned the right to a dignified existence. The Portuguese that deducted from their remuneration the payment for systems of social protection, obeying the laws of the Republic, and that seem not have the possibility to return to an active life and find alternative sources of income.

We also have to bring hope to those that lost their jobs, especially the long lasting unemployed, the Portuguese that, due to their age or the level of their qualifications, face greater difficulties in returning to the labour market. Portugal cannot throw away the experience of an entire generation. Combating unemployment through the creation of new jobs must be assumed as a national priority for politicians and economic agents. Politics and the economy exist to serve the people, so that their dignity is kept and their living conditions improve.

We must equally think of our young people, which have the audacity to hope. They invested in their training and qualification and have a great need to work and to conquer. They have knowledge of the World that no previous generation ever had. Many are outstanding as exceptional scientists, others have enterprising talents and wish to put into practice their innovatory ideas, contributing towards the modernization and dynamism of the Portuguese economy. Their ambition is to place their capabilities at the service of their own Country and not to have the need to go abroad.

In this new stage of national life, those that are retired, the pensioners and the young have the right to hope.

The courage to hope stretches, however, to many other groups in our society.

To the entrepreneurs, to whom the strengthening of the climate of confidence is decisive for their decisions on investment and creation of employment.

To the workers, who expect improvement in their living conditions and well-being.

To the people that live in the interior of the Country, that hope the next programme of European financing implies a new vision of the asymmetries in development and of the depopulation issue.

Portuguese,
Portugal faced, in the last three years, the greatest crisis in its recent History. Because we had the courage to hope, we were able to conquer the adversities of a difficult period.

It is fundamental that we avoid past errors. We cannot go back to a situation such as that we lived through when we were obliged to recur to external help. I state it once again: We must take care.

In the same way we were conscious of the demands of the crisis, the Portuguese are well aware that only through sustained economic growth will we be able to resolve our problems stably and consistently, in a medium term perspective.

It is also important that we fight in order that the values of social justice are materialized through a more equitable distribution of income and through public policies guided towards the combat against poverty and exclusion and towards the promotion of social mobility.

Nowadays we witness in the whole world, but also in Portugal, the inception of new forms of inequality. The school and the excellence of teaching, together with the dignifying of pedagogical activity, are fundamental components for the construction of a fairer Portugal.

The promotion of social justice and well-being and the rendering of quality health care are equally a priority. The Portuguese are proud of their National Health Service and expect that this model is preserved and improved.

The Portuguese have the right to expect that the main political parties and their leadership adopt an attitude and a culture in which the higher national interest is placed above party political interests. That they are able to overcome the differences of the short periods of the political and electoral cycles and understand that Portugal faces challenges that remit us to an expanded horizon that exceeds the mandates of governance.

The challenges we have before us, before all of us, may only be vanquished through a culture of compromise. To postpone any longer a medium term understanding between political parties to cover a trajectory of sustainability of public debt and the indispensable reforms for the strengthening of the economy is a risk which may be very costly for the Portuguese.

The period for dialogue that stretches now until the discussion of the next State Budget will be the best for the political parties to go forward towards the materialization of the right to hope of the Portuguese, in a wider temporal perspective, over and above the party political affairs or electoral calendars. This is the responsibility of the political parties.

Portuguese,
This year of 2014 opens a path of hope. But to be hopeful of the future, we must continue to work in the present. We cannot passively wait for the situation to change by itself. We have the ambition to live in a better country and for this purpose we have to join efforts and combine wills. Each one has to contribute so that everyone’s hope comes true.

Throughout these difficult years, the Portuguese proved they had a notable patriotic sense of responsibility. They now have the right to demand that politicians act identically. We know there is a lengthy path to reach the fairer and more developed society with which we dreamed 40 years ago.

The Portuguese have the courage of dreams and the strength of hope. History shows us that we are no better or worse than the others. We are different, we are Portuguese. It is this uniqueness that distinguishes us from other peoples in the world. It is this uniqueness, this unique way of being Portuguese, that we celebrate today, the National Day of Portugal.

Long live Portugal!