This Sunday, the President of the Republic considered that the “end of a cycle” had arrived and warned of the “profound crisis” that European political systems are experiencing, arguing that it was necessary to “make a break”.
In Aveiro, speaking at the closing of the National Youth Assembly, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that Europe was “lagging behind” and that money would not solve the problems faced by young people, although it could be a “positive factor”.
“We are at the end of a historical cycle and the beginning of another, in the world, in Europe and in Portugal (…). We are at this turning point in the world, the world will not be the same, we don’t know, in a year or a year and a half it will not be the same after the American elections, whatever the outcome, it will be different, it will not be the same after the changes in China, which had difficulties in managing the pandemic and the economic recovery (…) will not be the same in the positioning of the Russian Federation or the new powers in South Africa, Brazil, Turkey and India,” he said.
According to the head of state, “in these periods of uncertainty and sensitivity, there really is a sense of transformation and intensification of wars and, consequently, the need to fight for peace in Europe, in Africa, but also in the Middle East. Peace in N places that are talked about and in ‘n’ places that are not talked about.”
But there is another problem: “All the systems were designed for a different time and continued to exist by inertia,” he said.
“European political systems are in deep crisis, and that is why voids are opening up through which new inorganic realities are penetrating, some would call them populist, because the systems designed for the post-transition period in the evolution of the 20th-21st century are in crisis, they have not adapted to digital technologies, to energy changes, to scientific and technological advances, to mobility, to the aspirations of young people, they are old,” he noted.
And, in his words, “the alternative to old people is old people, old people in ideas, old people in structures, old people in organizations, old people in people, and this is the problem of Europe.”
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa warned that “Europe is falling behind” while it is “fighting for action on climate change, it is still fighting against migration and refugees” but, he said, “it has lost momentum”.
In Portugal, he stressed, the situation is no different: “The problem arises in Portugal, where the Portuguese parties… are not lagging behind, they are outdated, and the party system is outdated.”
For the President of the Republic, there are currently “positive factors” such as European funds, “but for a short” period of time: “This is a positive factor until the 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th of Portugal 2030, which is tomorrow, the day after tomorrow.”
“But it is not money that solves the problem, it is knowledge that solves the problem,” he stressed, arguing that “it is very important that young people reach the decision-making centres, the management of local authorities, the management of regions, the management of the so-called central government.” (…) is inevitable, and if this does not happen, time will be wasted and changes will be wasted.”
Drawing a parallel between the time when April 25 occurred and today, the head of state considered that “the great call of the post-50th anniversary of April is not to celebrate the fact itself, which deserves to be celebrated.”
“Celebrating April is about creating ruptures, not quite ones that are worth the ones that were made at that time, it needs to be done,” he said.
JCR // San Francisco
Lusa/The End
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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