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Honourable Secretary of State for Social Security
Honourable Mayor of Braga
Honourable Conference Organizers
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am honoured to take part in this VIII National Almshouses Conference. Honoured because of their history of service and dedication to those who are less favoured and socially more vulnerable. Honoured, because of the priceless role which is currently being accomplished in the midst of Portuguese society. Honoured, because of their availability and potential to face the new challenges in the fight against poverty, favouring social inclusiveness and dignifying the human being.

In spite of having entered into the XXI century, there are still many challenges placed before governments, institutions and citizens in the fields of social protection and solidarity.

I would like to show you, as an example, the issue of demographic ageing. Once we arrive in 2050, the elder population and its relative weight in the 25 Member European Union should double, increasing from the current 20% to 40% of the total population. But, if amongst the elderly total, we should single out those aged 80 and more, the current 4% will increase to 11%.

The existing projections lead us to conclude that men will increase their average life span by 6.3 years, tending to reach 82 years of age, and women 87.

The unimaginable progress achieved in medicine and in health care, in material well being and in food standards have contributed towards this sustained increase in life span.

If these figures represent an important challenge to the European Union, this will be much greater in the case of Portugal, especially if the demographic tendency – which is similar with what is standard in Europe – is not accompanied by a growth in wealth, at a necessarily greater rate than is currently the case.

How can we ready ourselves for this challenge? What resources will we have to assign to this new reality, and, above all, what reforms will we have to undertake in order to be able to establish, in due time, a sustainable social model and, more importantly, one that can confer greater dignity to ageing.

It is not just the pension payments! We are referring to a social model which includes the family, the senior equipments, and a health system which, in itself, will have to face new challenges placed by the ageing population. A model which equally includes the generalization of preventive principles in which healthy practices and uses may avoid tomorrow what is being predicted today.

We are facing a scenario of ageing and of demographic recession, a phenomenon that, due to its structural dimension, has no precedent in our history. This phenomenon obliges us to seriously regard our policies on birth rate, child protection, youth valuation, and asset qualification.

In order to conquer such a challenge, we cannot rest exclusively upon the initiative and responsibility of the State and public policies.

I have repeatedly stated that, in the future, it will be difficult to demand from the State a larger share of the resources intended for social protection and security. Faced with this limitation, which tends to persist even in the presence of measures intended to ensure an increased long term sustainability of the system, we have to question how citizens, institutions of solidarity and local communities will be able to contribute towards a greater inclusiveness of the more vulnerable groups.

It was with this spirit that I proposed to the Portuguese “a civic commitment for inclusiveness”. I wished to appeal to everyone’s social responsibility, aiming towards an issue which is everyone’s concern. I want this to be a cause that musters society and that definitely breaks with the ever present spectre of resignation and insensitivity. I believe that the Portuguese will not give up when faced with these challenges. In our history there are many examples of the character and equitable spirit of our people. The history of the almshouses is a fair example.

The way this movement first appeared in Portugal at the end of the XV century is truly exemplary. In 1498, upon the initiative and with the sponsorship of Queen Leonor, the Lisbon Almshouse was founded. From that year onwards, the capital city’s initiative was multiplied at an impressive rate in different cities and towns of the Kingdom, setting up the basic institution network we see today.

The endeavours of the local communities are visible in all of the almshouses, mustering wills for a common cause that congregates everyone, troubled with the need to confer sustainability to institutions in order to guarantee their autonomy.

It is in this example that we find the reason for their longevity and remarkable capability to resist times of adversity, as is shown by their having existed for more than five centuries.

If we think that this same example was a repetition of what was achieved by the Portuguese in most of the world where their presence was more outstanding, from Brazil to Nagasaki, from Angola to India and to Macau, we will understand that this was the institutional trade mark that provided an identity to this movement of the good men of the towns and cities of yore, and to this day’s citizens, men and women in solidarity with the more vulnerable and disfavoured.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The capital of experience and of public service accumulated by the Portuguese Almshouses during their existence cannot be spurned, especially when the scenarios of future social development demand that local communities are mustered and given greater responsibility for carrying out a new generation of social policies.

Poverty, misery and exclusion are not new phenomena, but the contexts in which these issues are developed are new: a greater risk of poverty reaching new social groups; the vulgarizing of risk behaviour among the younger people; a crisis in fundamental values faced by the unusual materialistic consumerism; and more precarious social, family, community and working relationships. These are the new contexts which oblige us to rethink the future of social policies and the role of the different institutions in the fight against exclusion.

I believe that, in this perspective, there are three indispensable fundamental requisites.

Firstly, a greater capacity for cooperation among the various social institutions, in order to structure local networks in which the diverse values are enhanced and the common resources shared.

Secondly, a greater participation of citizens in the defence of a cause which is everyone’s and expresses a civic responsibility which must be enhanced in value.

And, lastly, a greater decentralization of skills and attributes in the field of public policies for social inclusiveness.

I know that the availability and the endeavour exist in the different interested parties to bring into fruition the idea of a fairer and more equitable society. The many institutions and municipalities which I had the opportunity to visit during the four campaigns of the Route to Inclusiveness left me with the conviction that work is being carried out in that sense and that the results of this effort in adaptation will be revealed to public opinion.

Equally I wish to demonstrate to the Portuguese Almshouses my confidence and recognition for the work they have been carrying out and for the undeniable and proven capability that has always been shown by them to interpret the diversity of the challenges of the fight against poverty and social exclusion in our Country.

The agenda for this Conference shows that these new challenges are well known. I am certain that the ideas and proposals discussed here will bear fruit in the future, for the good of the neediest and for the benefit of Portugal.