Welcome to the Official page of the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic

Honourable Speaker
Honourable President of the Supreme Court of Justice
Honourable Minister of Justice
Honourable Attorney General
Honourable Chairman of the Law Society
Ladies and Gentlemen
Excellencies,

On the eve of completing a year as President of the Republic, I could not have a better opportunity or a more qualified audience in this opening session of the judicial year to, once again, underline one of the most important challenges that faces a democratic State – Justice and its fair administration.

In several speeches, and initially in my acceptance speech when inaugurated as President, I have sustained that citizenship and the defence of the basic principles of a democratic State demand that our Judicial system be endowed with the necessary conditions for its stringent, timely and exempt running, in order to assert its credibility and efficiency.

It is well recognized today that, within the realm of Justice, concerns as to the slowness of the decisions in judicial procedures are not the sole issues under view, but mainly the credibility and the prestige of the judicial institutions as components of the power of a State that condition economic and social development and the feeling of security of the public in the defence of their fundamental rights and liberties.

This last year’s experience was proof of the reasoning of those who defend a proactive policy for Justice, based upon a congregation of efforts between the organs of State and the main agents and protagonists of the judicial system.

This policy is the most adequate to establish wider understandings as to the necessary remedy to dissolve institutional, structural and organizational blockades, without which the burgeoning of a background favourable to change and to the application of fundamental reforms and measures that the justice sector is globally in need of, would not be possible.

I must place on record, here, that in the many meetings I have maintained with the personages mainly responsible in the area of justice – from the Government and political parties to the Presidents of the High Courts, the Attorney General, the representative structures of the judicatures, and the associations representing the forensic classes – it was possible to ascertain a new will to exchange views, in order to overcome structural difficulties, and an urgency to adopt a programme for the reform of basic legislation, judicial organization and juridical and professional training, in which all the interested parties could participate.

Above all, I encountered a general opinion that a joint procedure would be the better means to move out of a certain sense of installed crisis, in order to regain the credibility and the efficiency of our justice system, at the service of a modern State and of values of liberty, security and social peace.

Following the feeling for appeasement and the political will that at this time seems to stamp the Justice sector, I believe that the conditions are now met so that 2007 is the year when the legislative and organizational measures will be taken for a better and more demanding administration of the Justice sector.

I am certain that the agents and protagonists involved in this transformation process will know how to rise to their responsibilities.

The main political parties have reached an understanding as to an enlarged set of reforms, some of which are already being considered in Parliament, and which I expect will permit more agile and efficient procedures, as well as a faster answer of the judicial organization, without diminishing the essential guarantees for the public.

In the production and consideration of legislation required by the reform programme, it is essential to obtain the contribution of all the judicial agents, commencing with those who will be directly called to apply it in their daily professional activities.

But it is also indispensable to adopt a permanent assessment system, of the adequacy and strictness of the adopted measures, as well as of the performance of the various agents, in accordance with criteria of demand and of quality which the public expects from a fair administration of Justice.

In order that the constitutional independence and autonomic principles of the judicial power are maintained, this power must be acknowledged for the responsibility of its decisions and to merit an unrestricted confidence from society at large, starting with the involved citizens.

The deepening of the relationship of confidence between the public and the judicial power is not a task exclusively reserved for political representatives, neither does it depend upon legislative or organizational reforms. It is, on the contrary, an effort which must be shared by the judicatures, since it is upon these, primarily, that the confidence of the public resides.

I am certain that the Country can rely on the active contribution of the magistrates to the prestige and dignity of the institutions they serve, especially with regard to their professional endeavour and to the quality and quickness of their decisions.

An ever more qualified and demanding intervention of lawyers in the judicial system is expected, not only in the defence of the rights and guarantees of the public, but also as factor of credibility and efficiency of Justice.

In the era of information society in which we live in, the issues of justice will continue to have great visibility and to deserve increased interest from the media and the public. This is a challenge of great responsibility for all the judicial agents, from whom an attitude of discretion and self containment is demanded, totally contrary to excess public exposure or media performance.

As I have already had the opportunity to state, the President of the Republic will, within his competences, give all the support needed for the alterations necessary for the strengthening of the democratic legitimating of the judiciary institutions, to the guarantee of its independence and to the prestige of the respective holders.

But it is equally his duty, together with the other organs of sovereignty, to fight for the functioning of a judicial system which, with the necessary support, serves with quality and efficiency the values of justice and the needs of the Country.

I would also like, finally, to reiterate my commitment and deep exertion in this nationally important project, since the quality of our democracy and the future well being of the people of Portugal depends from it.