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

Following the General Election held on 4 October, and having heard the parties with parliamentary representation, I appointed Dr. Pedro Passos Coelho as Prime Minister.

As I referred in the Message to the Country broadcast on 22 October, my decision was based upon the fact that, in the 40 years of Portuguese democracy, the responsibility to constitute a Government was always attributed to the winner of the elections.

This has been the case in all the electoral acts in which the winning political party did not obtain the majority of members of Parliament, such as happened in the 2009 General Election.

With regard to this, I reiterate what I stated, precisely in 2009, when the XVII Constitutional Government was empowered: «The Government empowered today has full constitutional legitimacy to govern. It acquired this legitimacy in the polls».

Indeed, and in line with our politico-constitutional usage, sealed by successive Presidents of the Republic, it is the political party that wins the elections that shall constitute the Government, which will fully enter into office after its Programme has been apprized by the Members of Parliament.

I also had in mind, on the other hand that, until the moment when I appointed the Prime Minister, I had not been presented by the remaining political parties, with an alternative solution for a stable, coherent and credible Government.

The Government that is being empowered today is not backed by a parliamentary majority. For this reason, and continuing the contacts established after the elections, efforts in dialogue and compromise should proceed with the remaining political parties, searching for the necessary understandings to safeguard the supreme national interest.

In the historical moment Portugal is going through, the supreme national interest is very clear: we must consolidate the path of economic growth and job creation and preserve the external credibility that we so hardly achieved.

We cannot recede from such an arduous path, in which so many sacrifices were demanded from the Portuguese, and to which they responded with such an exemplary patriotic sense of responsibility.

In this context, it is indispensable that no doubts subsist over the State of Portugal’s fidelity to the international commitments it assumed and to the weighty strategic options which distinguish us as a free and sovereign nation since the birth of the democratic regime.

The European option, which was essential for the consolidation of our democracy, is a fundamental asset for the Country’s external credibility.

Portugal is a full member of the European Union and adhered since the very first to the single currency project. It is demanded from the Government now empowered that it respects the European rules of budgetary discipline applicable to the countries in the Euro Zone and subscribed by the Portuguese State, specifically the Stability and Growth Pact, the legislative packets known as «Six Pack» and «Two Pack», and the Budgetary Treaty, in order that Portugal swiftly exits the Procedure for Excess Deficit, reduces the ratio of public debt and achieves the medium term objective set for the structural deficit.

It is equally demanded that this government respects the commitments assumed by the Portuguese State within the scope of the Banking Union, and ensures an active and constructive participation in the negotiation of the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership, in order to improve the conditions of competitiveness of Portuguese products in the North American markets.

Similarly, we must keep our faithfulness to the commitments that decisively contribute towards Portugal’s worldwide prestige, with emphasis on our presence in the Portuguese speaking areas and the international defence and collective security organizations of which we are members.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Government now empowered takes office at a time of great demand, which requires from all a very high sense of responsibility. Nobody is excluded from the duty of acting responsibly, this being a duty that binds us all, whichever his political quadrant or his ideological guidance.

The path we treaded following our request for external aid in April 2011, when the Country was at the edge of bankruptcy, has not yet ended. Several indicators give us signs of hope and Portugal was able to successfully close the Programme of Financial assistance established with the international institutions to obtain the necessary funds for the functioning of the State and the economy.

We must, however, face the Country’s situation with realism, serenely and objectively.

In the coming year, the value of public debt refunds amounts to some 18 thousand million euros.

Public debt stands at 128% of Gross Domestic Product.

The debit balance of the International Investment Position, that is, the net external indebtedness of the Portuguese economy, stands at 116% of GDP.

The unemployment rate decreased by two percentage points – less 108 thousand Portuguese unemployed in the last twelve months. Yet more at a higher level, 11.9% of the active population.

It is within this framework that, along with budgetary consolidation, the Government must face other huge challenges.

It is immediately necessary to materialize a strategy to fight unemployment and to promote social justice, with particular regard to the most needy, to those that suffered the effects of the economic crisis.

Investment increased by 7% in the last twelve months, but for job creation to take place its rate of growth must be made faster and it is fundamental that a heavy stake is placed on the competitiveness of our economy.

Finally, we must consolidate a healthy balance in our external accounts, supporting exports based on private initiative. It is necessary that our entrepreneurs are respected and encouraged.

To achieve these objectives we must guarantee, in affordable circumstances, the sources of finance for the State, for the banking system and for the companies.

Without accessing means of finance, the State will have difficulties in fulfilling its commitments, the banking system will face great difficulties in granting credit to companies and these, in their turn, will be unable to invest in wealth and job creation.

External financing depends upon the Country’s international image. This external image depends, in turn, from the sense of responsibility that politicians, businessmen and social agents demonstrate internally.

Portugal is nowadays a respected and credible country, in which many wish to invest and is trusted by the markets. We cannot allow this asset to go to waste, this asset that cost us so much to achieve and for which the collaboration of several political factions was fundamental.

To maintain the course that guarantees improved living conditions for all the Portuguese, it is indispensable that the measures to be taken by the Government are the object of a joint action with social partners and the civil society.

Trade unions and entrepreneurial confederations, solidarity associations and institutions, all must be called upon towards this common task, a path of responsibility.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Throughout our History, we have only known real economic and social progress with political stability. Without political stability, Portugal will become an ungovernable country. And, obviously, nobody trusts an ungovernable country.

The Portuguese are aware that, in spite of the path we have tread, nothing is yet guaranteed. For this reason, they so unequivocally and clearly demonstrated in the recent elections, supporting with an overwhelming majority the European options with all the implications deriving from it.

Indeed, if Portugal had not been comprised in the single currency, if the Country were not a member of the European Union, we could not have obtained the solidarity of the institutions that loaned us 78 thousand million euros when, in 2011, we were obliged to place a request for external bailout to avoid the collapse of our economy.

Thus, before the Portuguese and our partners in the European Union, politicians must not allow that any doubts remain as to Portugal’s adhesion to the fundamental options of the Lisbon Treaty, of the Budgetary Treaty and of the European Stability Mechanism, approved by a massive Parliamentary majority.

Mister Prime Minister,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

«The absence of a Parliamentary majority support is not, on its own, an upsetting component of governability. The absence of a majority does not imply the postponement of the measures required by the Country’s situation. For any Government, the temporal horizon of action must always be the legislature».

Renewing these words, I want to assert, Mister Prime Minister that you can always count upon the institutional loyalty of the President of the Republic.

Considering the electoral results, I assumed the constitutional responsibility of appointing you, it now being the duty of Members of Parliament to apprize the Programme of the Government and decide, conscientiously and taking into account Portugal’s supreme interests, upon your coming fully into office.

Thank you.