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

This ceremony which annually takes place in these magnificent surroundings is a privileged occasion for the various practitioners in our judicial system to render accountability to the Portuguese concerning the state of Justice.

As ordained in our Constitutional Law, Justice is administered in the name of the People. It is thus natural that citizens have the right, in each year, to receive a report on the operation of the Portuguese judicial system.

To maintain a relationship of truth with the people and account for the exercise of public duties are two values which I rate as essential in our republican and democratic culture.

The opening of the judicial year is thus an occasion to look towards the future but also a time for accountability.

In this context, several questions may be placed concerning last year’s activities: did our judicial system operate effectively? Were the legitimate concerns of the Portuguese as to the timely and weighted operation of the juridical duties duly satisfied? Did the quality of the legislation produced visibly increase?

The quality of the legislation is, in effect, a fundamental component of the exercise of the judicial function. It has long been recognized that magistrates are much more than the mere “mouth of the Law” quoted by Montesquieu. But it is no less certain that, notwithstanding their active and creative role in the interpretation and application of the law to material cases, magistrates require that legislation is quality based, drawn up securely and with precision, and endowed with harmonized and consistent solutions. For better justice better legislation is required.

Quality of legislation is also fundamental at another level. The law must be understood by the people and adequately drawn up for the society within which we live. This is unfortunately not always the case. Legislation is at times produced without taking into account our reality, the Country which we are, the Country we aim to be and, above all, the Country we can become.

The Law does not exist to satisfy the interests of some or to build utopias, but to resolve the problems of the people. The Law exists to overcome pressures, not to increase them. The Law must resolve the peoples’ real problems, instead of becoming, in itself, a source of conflict.

Legislating is an act of choice which often implies some displeasure. To put it very simply, however, there is an enormous distance between that which constitutes a legitimate political option of those who possess a democratic mandate and that which represents an artificial component capable of disturbing public life.

For this reason, I have insisted on the need for legislation to be produced jointly with those that are conversant with the realities in question, specifically the judicial reality, that is, the Law practitioners.

The perfection of legislation does not only depend upon its technical- juridical fineness, neither legislating is an academic exercise. The quality of legislation mainly derives from how standards are adaptable to the society in which we live.

I have a growing concern on the topic of the quality of juridical standards, considering that any law which may raise doubts, is poorly assessed as to its effects or contains standards which are constitutionally doubtful, may pollute the Justice system.

Legislation with quality increases the effectiveness of public policies, lessens expenditure, generates juridical security with enterprises and citizens and reduces litigation in the courts.

The awareness of the relevance of quality in legislation has led the more developed States to introduce important reforms, and the European Union has launched an ambitious plan with this objective, as a juridical and technical tool of the Lisbon Strategy.

The plan implies the development, in all the member States, of a new culture and a new institutional model of legislative perfection which, together with the simplifying and improved drawing up of standards, assumes a demanding assessment of the impact of the more relevant legislation, specifically that involving large public investment or carries out long range administrative or judicial reform.

The early diagnosis which results from the prior assessment of the impact of legislation when it is being drawn up implies an estimation of its costs and benefits, a careful hearing of the interested parties, an appraisal of the risks and a weighted judgement on the need and adequateness of the measures in question.

The prior assessment of the standards allows strengthening the responsibility of the legislator over the adequateness of the legislation he approves, minimizes the lack of success of many public policies, and reduces unnecessary contradiction to more controversial juridical measures. It is also through this assessment that the necessary resources for the proper application of the legislation are accounted for.

On the other hand, the successive assessment of the impact of the more important legislation avoids that the legislator, after the approval of certain juridical measures, has no further interest in its effects.

Portugal, such as other member States of the Union, has adopted policies of legislative quality the efficiency of which must be regularly subject to appraisal. Although there has been progress in the simplification of procedures, checks should however be carried out on whether many of such measures have proved adequate or if they have been effectively adopted and carried out.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

If a greater effort is demanded from the legislator concerning better quality in legislation, the Law practitioners are also weighed with particular responsibilities.

In the current situation of collective difficulties which we are all going through, the judicial practitioners must be aware that the juridical system is not on a level different to the Country’s reality, that the world of the courts is not a closed oasis, outside of our span of time.

This is, in effect, a stage of national life in which the issue of the costs of the judiciary system deserves deep and acting concern.

I am obviously not referring to the costs of the judiciary in itself, which, such all systems providing public services is a cost component for the taxpayer. I refer, however, to the need to take into account the tangible and intangible costs associated to the deficiencies and delays in carrying out Justice.

Even with the understanding that Justice has its own rhythms of materialization, it is unquestionable that obstacles still exist to the operation of the courts which constitute one of the grievous issues which the Country is currently facing.

For the competitiveness of our economy, for the dynamics of our economic operators, for Portugal’s external credibility, it is fundamental that we possess a legal system which deserves the trust of the people.

The financial system will only support investment if it obtains guarantees that Justice will protect its credits, should it be required.

Entrepreneurs must be made aware that Justice will be ready to perform its mission at the time when, for whatever reason, they so require it.
National and foreign investors need to know that the rule of Law exists in Portugal, where non-compliance with obligations is timely sanctioned by the law and by the courts.

Judicial practitioners are also subject to questions concerning the current economic and financial situation. It is very probable that this situation may be projected on to the judiciary system. The economic crisis may carry with it an increase in litigation.

To re-launch the economy, to combat new and more violent forms of criminality, Justice must be able to supply an effective, adequate and timely response.

Amongst the reforms which were carried out in 2008 in the area of Justice, one deserves, in this context special reference, due to its relevance in the improvement of the general system of justice administration, which is the faster and more qualified hearing of judicial procedures.

I am referring the law on the organization and operation of the network of judicial courts. With the creation in various municipalities of specialist courts in the civil, commercial and labour areas, provided with new administrative and procedural management, although still on an experimental basis, it is hoped that citizens and companies will obtain a faster resolution of their conflicts and a timely carrying out of the decisions proffered.

The new judiciary organization, which will be fully in force as from September 2010, will surely be a decisive moment for Portuguese justice, which we all want closer to the people, better qualified and specialized, provided with all the tools that modernize methods and streamline procedures, as well as a stringent system of assessment and following up of results.

The Country requires Justice which the people can trust, which resolves once and for all the issues delaying the hearing of procedures and that guarantees a fair access of the citizens to the courts.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As I have already stated in this Hall of Honour, I am very conscious of the difficulties which magistrates face daily in carrying out their functions. They are deserving of a word of appreciation for the way in which, under very often adverse conditions, they deal with the thousands of processes which are subject to the courts every year.

It is exactly because of this that I must insist on the need of a judicial culture of responsibility. If the people’s trust in the institutions is always an essential requirement, it becomes dramatically so when we are going through difficult times.

As I recently stated in the message I addressed to the Portuguese in the beginning of the year, we are all going to greatly need each other in 2009. In the justice sector, the various practitioners are also going to need each other very much.

I hope that politicians, on the one hand, and the judiciary practitioners, on the other, will measure up to the enormous challenges that will be faced by our Country in 2009 and in the following years. The issue in question, the future of the coming generations, is much too important to accept divisions over controversy that has little in common with many Portuguese.

On this day, when the judicial year is solemnly inaugurated, I want to state my appreciation to all judiciary practitioners, magistrates, lawyers and officials, to all of whom I wish fruitful work for the good of the Country.

Thank you.