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

We celebrate today the Day of Camões, of Portugal and of the Portuguese Communities.

We are also honoured today by the presence of the President of the Republic of Cape Verde, to whom I address a very friendly greeting.

In his epic poem, a major work in universal literature, Camões defined the profile and nature of this collective adventure of many centuries, of this our country, the country we are celebrating today.

The Lusíadas are the singing voice of Lisbon - «And you, noble Lisbon, that in the World / are easily a princess amongst others» - and it is from this Lisbon, princess of cities, the most westerly capital of Europe, that we commemorate this year the National Day of Portugal. This is our day. June 10 belongs to all Portuguese, the Portuguese that are in Portugal and the Communities that we created throughout the World.

In this year of 2012 we equally celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the first Portuguese presidency of the Council of the European Communities, whose theme was “The path to the European Union”. Belém’s Cultural Centre, symbolically located in the neighbourhood of the Jerónimos Monastery and of the Tower of Belém, was the place that housed the historic summit of European leaders held in June 1992.

Just as today, many doubts also hovered twenty years ago over the future of the project for European integration, dreamed of and launched after World War II. A project that, and it is important that it be remembered, allowed Europe to live the longest period of peace, prosperity and social justice in the whole of its History.

In 1992, when Portugal took up the presidency of the European Communities, many voices queried the viability of the idea of a united Europe. The Treaty of Maastricht, the corner stone of European construction, had been rejected in a referendum by one of the Member States. We lived in a dilemma, a very difficult moment.

Twenty years ago, the European leaders had courage and showed the World they did not fear the future. They were audacious, they had the European audacity. It was with this audacity that Europe built grandiose cathedrals, achieved a flourishing trading market between the Northern and the Southern countries, and built a spiritual and cultural heritage, a unique civilization that has been a reference to the World. It was with this audacity that Europe, by means of its navigators, many of them Portuguese, ran the hazard of the seas and brought to its midst mew peoples and new cultures. It is this idea of Europe that it is our duty to persist.

In the 20th century the Old Continent was laid waste by two wars, but the European spirit always prevailed, allowing that countries that had been totally destroyed be reborn out of the ruins of inhumanity, and resumed times of prosperity, well being and social justice.

During decades, a great European nation lived divided by senseless walls. In those days, in dramatic times, day after day, the peoples of Europe never abandoned that nation. With her they celebrated the fall of the walls, and supported since the very first day the reuniting of a fatherland until then divided. It is in such times, in the more difficult times, that we are able to better assess the meaning of the values of cohesion and solidarity, major pillars of the Union and which go much further than the material or economic domains. More than a union of markets, Europe must be a communion of wills.

Twenty years ago, when many believed that the European project was severely compromised, the people of Europe showed their grip. Guided by strong leaders, with solidarity and determination, the Community deepened economic and monetary integration on a course towards the European Union. Instead of looking backwards, instead of diving into depression, a decisive impulse was given in many domains of European integration. We advanced into the internal market so as to render it irreversible. We adopted the strategic guidance towards the enlargement of the union from 12 to 15 States. We created a Cohesion Fund and prepared the completion of the Delors II Package. And, above all, we provided a political answer, firm and unequivocal, to all who doubted that the Maastricht Treaty could become a reality.

We advanced, in effect, and the fears of the most sceptical were kept backward for a long time: the European Central Bank was set up and the single currency instituted, the number of Member States later increased from 15 to 27. More recently, in 2007, again in Lisbon, the Union showed its capacity for reform, approving a decisive treaty for the future of millions of citizens.

Portuguese,

This is the lesson we must learn for today’s times. In 1992 European union and solidarity were an option for the future of Europe. Today, in 2012, they are a condition of survival for the European project. Let us have no doubts: if we allow being weakened by pessimism, if national selfishness grows, if the Member States do not give value to cohesion and solidarity, if there is no courage to defend the single currency, if a truly European agenda is not adopted for economic growth and employment, the European Union will be grievously drawn into the very deepest of crises.

To the economic and financial crisis which we are going through today, the worst of all crises would be added, the crisis of convictions, of the weakening of values and the loss of ideals. The resentments that would appear from every side, would further the rise of new nationalisms and irrational passions, and the various States would lose the spirit of cooperation and opening that we feature as a shared destiny. The outcome of Europe, as a whole, would be greatly weakened and all Member States, without exception, would become poorer and more vulnerable.

I trust that good sense and the spirit of responsibility will prevail. Similarly to what occurred 20 years ago, European audacity will be the final trump. Now is the time for today’s European leaders to show that theirs is the same grandeur and the same strategic verve of those that, in 1992, led Europe’s course.

In order that the European spirit prevails over national egoism it is necessary that each State shows, before its partners, a sense of responsibility and driven solidarity in the strengthening of the Union. It is not enough, in effect, to proclaim with words the values of cohesion and solidarity. It is necessary that each knows how to honour its commitments, that each merits the solidarity of the other States. In this context, financial stability is doubtlessly an essential component to ensure the credibility of the economies of the euro zone.

However, as I have been stating for a long while, the indispensable budgetary consolidation is in itself an only value, since it does not ensure, on its own, a trajectory of economic growth and of improvement in the peoples’ standard of living. It is thus essential to coordinate the budgetary dimension with the measures intended to create conditions favourable to competitive growth and to promote employment and social justice.

The leaders of the European Union are nowadays more heedful to the need for a policy towards growth and combating employment. The fight against unemployment, especially amongst the younger people, must be at the very top of the priorities of the European social agenda. Several European States are currently facing unemployment levels that, in the social point of view, will become unsustainable in the short term and the internal cohesion of each country will project itself negatively in European cohesion as a whole. It is urgent to pass from words to acts and to adopt new employment policies, either European or at national levels.

Portuguese,

I am firmly convinced that, as has always been the case until now, the European spirit will come out on top. We are very seriously and responsibly endeavouring to honour the commitments assumed with the international institutions that, at a crucial moment, loaned us the necessary funds to ensure the immediate needs to finance our economy.

There are signs that allow us to have confidence in the future. Nothing is guaranteed, of course, since we greatly depend from external trade, but some indicators permit to hope that economic recovery could become real in a not too distant future. For this to come by, however, we need everyone’s drive: greater efficiency in the action of public offices, greater volume of work and productivity, a firm stake on innovation and quality, a decided action in the conquest of new foreign markets, greater support for small and medium enterprises. There are reasons to be heedful, but there are equally reasons to be hopeful, with realism, with responsibility.

The Portuguese, once again repeating their History, are evidencing maturity and wisdom. They have perceived the dimension of the crisis and the need for change, have adapted their consumer habits, often combating expenditure and waste. They have also shown an admirable civic spirit and of mutual aid in the face of worsening poverty situations: the civil society has mustered notably through innumerable voluntary and sociable support initiatives, be it individually, be it based upon private solidarity institutions or local authorities.

The European Year of Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations is an excellent opportunity to strengthen our duties, both civic and humane, towards the neediest elders who are so often forgotten.

Throughout these times of making sacrifices we have not lost the sense of national cohesion. We have clearly understood that conflict for conflict’s sake will not lead us anywhere. In effect, we cannot demand European cohesion if we don’t keep up national cohesion. The dramatic examples of some countries show to what lengths legitimacy to claim aid depends upon our own credibility. And credibility is conquered by us alone; it is not a component that we can take as certain.

Due to the conduct it has maintained throughout years, to the prestige it achieved whenever it presided to the destinies of the Union, to the degree of internal cohesion with which it has borne its commitments, Portugal has deserved the trust of its European partners. This is a fundamental asset we cannot afford to lose.

I am well aware of the reality of the Country and am fully conscious of the drama of those who are jobless, of the difficulties young people are experiencing in obtaining a career, of those who cannot fulfil their commitments, of the small sized entrepreneurs that feel the need to slow down or even close their business. There are thousands of families in great difficulty all over the Country. We live in difficult times.

I am also highly conscious of the imperative need to deepen dialogue and social concert. It is not an easy issue in times such as this. But it is exactly in times such as these that opening to dialogue must be materialized by real and concrete acts, by gestures that effectively demonstrate that, from side to side, there is a responsible and patriotic attitude, whether between the political forces or between the social partners. There is room for discussion aiming towards strategic guidance, capable of reconciling the indispensable financial stability and the growth of the economy and employment.

In several fields of national life there are numerous examples of success that must be followed and, if possible, replicated. Public offices have the duty to identify and encourage such cases of success, of carrying out a serious and strict survey of our potential and act in conformity.

In this context, the examples that derive from our Diaspora fully justify the Country’s regard. For this reason also, as I had the opportunity to ascertain in the East, the Portuguese and Portuguese Descendant communities should be mustered as true ambassadors, providing knowledge of the Country’s potential and of national products and promoting foreign investment.

It is essential that our politicians understand the value and the reach of this network of talents and work spread over the whole world. In this Day of the Portuguese Communities, I send out an appeal to the political decision takers: establish more effective means of connection between the offices responsible for export promotion and to capture foreign investment and the Portuguese or Portuguese Descendant communities and associations.

Portuguese,

In the Lusíadas epic poem, the Poet refers to Portugal as the «crest of the head of the whole of Europe». And, in more than one occasion, Camões refers to «arrogant Europe».

It was Portugal that led Europe throughout this world, as I movingly recognized when visiting the Republic of East Timor, that celebrates this year its first decade of independence.

In the complex issue of East Timor, the Portuguese once more evidenced their generosity and their admirable spirit of solidarity, when they rose in one voice to defend the cause of the Timorese people. We weren’t motivated for this by economic reasons. We rose on behalf of Timor because that is how we stand in the world, the unmistakable art of being Portuguese, as was once stated by Teixeira de Pascoaes.

When leading Europe to the world, we also brought the world to Europe. In this process, carried out with sacrifices and courage, we also brought some humbleness to that which Camões called «arrogant Europe». We stood out as builders of bridges in the dialogue of civilizations. And this is a talent that nowadays the world still recognizes.

We have to show Europe that solidarity and cohesion are values of interest to everybody, that arrogance was never a label of authentic Europeanism.

The Union is not just a vast trading market neither a concentration of economies that share the same currency. Europe is much more than this. The leaders of the European Union, in order to overcome the predicament that they’re facing, must see Europe as a common area that, prior to economic or financial, is historic and cultural. We travelled the same paths together for many centuries. Even if grievous and deep, it shall not be a passing crisis that will place in question the pillars of a collective undertaking that we were able to project over the whole planet.

From today’s European leaders we expect that they are conscious of the historic dimension of this collective cooperation project. I am certain that the European people have already perceived the challenges we have to face in this 21st century global world. The Portuguese will, as always, stand on the front line in defence of a common project for peace, freedom and well being which is in the interest of all the Union’s Member States.

Portuguese,

This is day of happiness and festivity. We celebrate Portugal and our Diaspora, we evoke the Poet that brought us grandeur, due to his epic, to his lyricism.

When celebrating Portugal, in Lisbon, we must call upon the Sea, a current reality in our History since immemorial times. Lisbon witnesses today the start of one of the most important world sea regattas, a circumnavigation adventure of this planet that, in our imagination, goes back to the great nautical epics of the Fifteenth century.

Located on the estuary of the Tagus, Lisbon was the stage of great maritime feats, departure point of many vessels and caravels. One day, however, it was shaken by an earthquake that destroyed it. From the ashes we built a new city, one of the most beautiful capitals of the world. We never lowered our arms, we never surrendered to fatalism. However bad the circumstances, we never gave up the future.

We also want to build a new country today. We wanted democracy and freedom and we conquered these here, in the streets of this city, in an unusual revolution, bloodless and with no violence.

We have reached all that we wanted whenever we acted with courage and serenity, with perspicacity and spirit of cohesion. We shall win the current battle for the simple reason that we possess the fibre and the pride of being Portuguese.

Thank you very much