Marcelo Rebelo de Souza advocates greater youth and immigrant representation in political power

The President of the Republic said this Monday that it is important to renew political systems with youth participation and that immigrants in Portugal should also be better represented in political power.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke at the Carcavelos Campus of the University of Nova de Lisboa at the closing of the conference “Desire and Growth: Growth Acceleration and Portugal”, an initiative of the Business Roundtable Portugal (BRP).

In his speech, the President of the Republic noted in a critical tone that “the representatives of migrants in Portugal, who number 700,000, have no representation in practically any significant sphere of power.”

“They don’t exist, they are secret, even if they have dual citizenship,” he said.

According to the head of state, the underrepresentation of immigrants “is a mental problem” that Portugal must overcome, as well as the political participation of young people.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa argued that young people bring “ideas of a greater civil society, more openness, more openness internationally, more openness of ideas, more openness economically, socially, culturally and politically” and challenged their ability to be questioned. occupy positions of responsibility.

“Political systems were created by young people. All the great victories in Portuguese history have been made by young people, not by old people. Democracy was created by those who are twenty, maximum thirty years old,” he said.

In his speech, the head of state highly appreciated the Business Roundtable Portugal (BRP), which includes such large companies and economic groups as EDP, Sonae, Altice, Visabeira, Amorim, Galp and Mota-Engil, and considered that in Portugal for the historical reasons, civil society is “very weak” and “statism” prevails in politics.

“The liberal left has always been the poor left on the left, the liberal right the poor right on the right. The important rightists were the Bonapartists or conservatives. Strong leftists were statesmen – it was benevolence, it was and is, ”he argued. .

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa mentioned that “six years ago, the subject of debate was the role of the private and cooperative entity and what decision to make regarding association agreements – it was a topic from 2016 to 2018, it was not in prehistory”.

And going back to 2019, he highlighted the difficulty of “discussing the Basic Health Law, even more so over the phone, with government support parties to find a formula” that he considered “acceptable” and that “does not completely close the door.” to the role of the private in some areas of health”.

In the words of the President of the Republic, of “state-influenced electoral acts over the past 18 years, the overwhelming majority have been won by voting for state options.”

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa highlighted the PS’s recent administration with the support of the PKP and the Left Bloc, nicknamed “Geringons”, of which he said that “from a doctrinal point of view, it has benefited from the support of the most statist since the beginning of democracy.” since the end of the revolution.

“That was the case because in a democracy the Portuguese vote either wanted it or accepted it or ended up allowing it or later joined it. And that means that changing this civic culture actually requires a lot of perseverance,” he concluded.

As for immigrants, last Thursday the President of the Republic already pointed out their lack of political representation in Portugal at the opening of an exhibition dedicated to Amilcar Cabral, when he criticized the right-wing parties in Parliament for opposing Portuguese President Brazil, Lula da Silva, will speak at the commemorative meeting on 25 April.

The head of state asked how “thousands, thousands and thousands of people of flesh and blood, without presence, even when they have more than one nationality, presence in sovereign bodies, presence in several local authorities or regional authorities in the most differentiated social and economic structures.”

“I don’t even speak qualitatively, but quantitatively in proportion to the expression they have in Portuguese reality. They daily create wealth in Portugal, suffer in the creation of this wealth by inequalities, in many cases known and emphasized. How not to have an active voice in power structures over the past 50 years on April 25?” he asked.

The President of the Republic then considered that “there is something of a civic culture in Portugal that deserves to be deepened”, a message he renewed and strengthened this Monday.