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Honourable Mayor
Honourable Speaker of the Municipal Assembly
Honourable Councillors
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am deeply satisfied to be in Setúbal today, presiding at the ceremonies which celebrate the National Day of Portugal, of Camões, and of the Portuguese Communities.

The traditional hospitality, with which the city welcomes us, is still more gratifying by the pleasure we feel at the natural beauty that surrounds it. Raul Brandão himself commented, obviously overjoyed, that even the sea “attained perfection” in Setúbal.

I would like to express to the people of Setúbal, through their Mayor, my deep appreciation and gratitude for their help in the preparation of the celebrations of this June 10.

Thank you indeed for your contribution for dignifying this date, which has, for all of us Portuguese, such a special significance.

There are good reasons for Setúbal having been the chosen stage for the celebrations of the National Day of Portugal.

I could take my time commending its privileged geographical situation, between the imposing and harsh Arrábida landscape, a shelter for poets and monks, and the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean, stage of the great adventures in navigation, which decisively marked our identity and gave new worlds to the World.

The remarkable landscape of this region is well known to all its visitors. Also the singular role it performed, since ages before the foundation of the Portuguese State until these current days, has been recorded by a great number of historians.

With its often difficult past, always admirable however due to its courage and honesty, and its addiction to freedom and labour as well proven by its people, Setúbal really mirrors the values which made Portugal a respected nation and the Portuguese a people who wanted to travel further.

Used since immemorial times to seafaring chores, Setúbal well knows the significance of risk and adversity. But it also knows how to face them and conquer them, with determination and courage.

Ships from earlier civilizations put in to this shore in olden times.

Many sailors were born and bred here that, centuries later, would cross the oceans and bring the name of Portugal to the five continents.

Many companies were created and developed here, in later times, that re-launched the economy of the region, guaranteeing the livelihood of many families either living or who settled here, coming from all over the Country in search of work or for a better life.

Industries prospered here which, with the necessary contribution of its workers, perform a fundamental role in the growth of our economy and in the modernization of our entrepreneurial fabric.

When choosing Setúbal as the host city for the celebrations of the National Day of Portugal, my intention was, above all, to show my appreciation of its people.

I also wished to stress this harmonious synthesis between staying and departing, labour and discovery, that highlight our experience as a people and that the city on the Sado River so well symbolizes.

Today, as yesterday, the duty to preserve our natural and hereditary resources irrevocably commits us all with the future generations.

The national territory, including the maritime areas, as well as the material and immaterial assets we inherited, are the common property of all Portuguese, both those of today as those of tomorrow.

But we are equally obliged to know how to honour the capacity of our ancestors to innovate and change whenever necessary, to find at each moment the more adequate solutions for the issues we are faced with and which, many times, particularly affect the less favoured.

The city and the district of Setúbal are the living example of the non-conformism that throughout history led us not to give up in the bad times, and to face challenges with ambition and confidence.

It is with this same spirit that we must celebrate the National Day of Portugal, of Camões and of the Portuguese Communities.

History proves that we can win.

This possibility is in our hands, thus showing that the example given by those who, with their labour, vision and audacity, knew how to build and preserve the Country that we are and wish to continue to be, was not in vain.