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

You are now, Your Excellency, Dr. Joana Marques Vidal, being empowered in the office of Attorney General, at a very demanding time and with great responsibilities lying ahead.

In the terms of the Constitution, the Attorney General is appointed by the President of the Republic, under proposal of the Government. Your Excellency has thus available all the required conditions of institutional and personal confidence for the exercise of one of the most relevant offices in the Portuguese Republic.

Due to your probity and independence, and to your professional experience, built upon a wide career as a magistrate, due to your particular regard for victims and for those who most require the protection of the Law, Your Excellency congregates a number of cardinal virtues that will determinedly contribute towards the exercise of the high office to which you are now being empowered.

In a democratic society, the Public Prosecutor’s Office is at the service of the people, defending legality. To exercise this mission, the magistracy of the Public Prosecutor’s Office must assert itself with its credibility, its dignity, its prestige.

The trust of the Portuguese in the Public Prosecutor’s Office depends upon the effectiveness of its action, upon the sense of public service of its magistrates, upon the independence that they demonstrate in the face of the political powers, of the economic powers and of the several other powers that exist in Portuguese society.

The actions of the magistrates of the Public Prosecutor’s Office must be guided by rigour and discretion and must be contrary to media histrionics. Institutionally, the Public Prosecutor’s Office must speak with one voice – and this voice is that of the Attorney General.

It is imperative that the Attorney General has a strong spirit of leadership, a firm and intransigent action in defence of internal cohesion and of the prestige of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Criminal investigation and the defence of legality must be carried out with exemption and rigour, showing material results to those citizens that legitimately aspire to a swifter and more effective Justice. In short, a fairer Justice.

The actions of the Public Prosecutor’s Office must be exclusively focused on the work attributed to it by the Constitution and the law, instead of dispersing itself over public disputes or controversies over material cases that solely contribute to the degrading of the image of the judiciary system in the view of the people. Infringement of investigation secrecy must be combated with the greatest of firmness and determination, without compromise.

I am certain that these principles, objectives and rules will be present in the exercise of your office as Attorney General.

Demanded from all magistrates in the Public Prosecutor’s Office, from all of them, in strict compliance with their legal status, are exemption and objectivity, spirit of service and dedication to work. On this occasion I wish to greet the magistracy of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and guarantee, through Your Excellency the Attorney General, my full support in order that the exercise of penal office is carried out, in all investigations, swiftly and with due respect for the principle of legality.

You are taking office at a time when it is generally recognized that deep changes must be introduced in Portuguese Justice, to which the Public Prosecutor’s Office is not alien.

It will be your duty, Madam Attorney General, in a spirit of constructive dialogue with the other State powers, to contribute towards the conception and materialization of the measures required to ensure the credibility and effectiveness of the Judiciary system, in a climate of serenity and good sense and within the spirit of public service.

Finally, I wish to thank Councillor Fernando Pinto Monteiro for the irreprehensible relationship he has always maintained with the Presidency of the Republic and to underline his competence and the efforts carried out in order that, in difficult and complex situations, the credibility of the Public Prosecutor’s Office was kept preserved and guaranteed the exercise of penal action and the defence of equality.

Thank you very much