The President of the Republic, Cavaco Silva, said today that "it is an illusion" to think that the country’s problems can easily be solved as he spoke out against the "fear of change" and encouraged policy makers not to be afraid to act.
In a rare example of presidential sparkle, Cavaco Silva spoke at the annual meeting of the Council of the Portuguese Diaspora, saying "Portugal is still in front of a large very demanding challenge. Portugal continues to face severe restrictions and will have high demands placed upon it the future. It is an illusion to think that the country's problems are solved."
At the close of the annual meeting, the Head of State said that when chatting, people can say whatever comes to mind, including nonsense, but the reality always ends up imposing itself, sometimes with a time delay but someone always has to pay the bill."
"That is why it is essential that decision makers act with a good grasp of reality, knowing the barriers that the country has to and the restrictions that are ahead of us. This presupposes credible information and reasoned analysis," said Silva at the rather glorious surroundings of the Palácio da Cidadela de Cascais.
Cavaco Silva went further, stressing that decision makers cannot act on "mere improvisation.""Right now, keeping things as they are and fearing change is a risk that we are taking, is one of the risks we run. I think the Council of the Diaspora can give Portugal a helping hand and our policy makers should not be afraid to act and should not put off decisions that are critical to take."
Cavaco Silva began his forthright speech by saying "Portugal successfully has completed the assistance programme and there has been no need for a second bailout, nor for an interim programme" and it has made "a significant correction to macroeconomic imbalances."
"The positive results of our external accounts reflect a structural transformation of our economy towards the production of tradable goods," said Silva at the meeting attended by the deputy prime minister, Paulo Portas, the Minister of the Economy, António Pires de Lima, the Health Minister, Paulo Macedo, the Education Minister, Nuno Crato, and the minister of the Environment, Jorge Moreira da Silva.
The Council of the Portuguese Diaspora was created two years ago with the encouragement of Cavaco Silva and has more than 70 directors from about 20 countries.
Earlier in the day Cavaco Silva went through the annual presidential task of selecting prisoners for pardon on humanitarian grounds.
This year the Head of State was presented with 1,224 applications for pardon which he had to assess to see if any of the petitions were worthy of his signature.
Last year, Cavaco Silva granted only two pardons after reviewing 251 pleas for clemency.
These applications are assessed with reference to the opinions of the sentencing judges, prison directors, reports from prison services and any input from the Ministry of Justice.
In 2012, Cavaco Silva granted two pardons having reviewed 205 applications, and in 2011 two were granted from 225 pleas.
This year, of the 1,224 petitions that were received, Cavaco Silva pardoned three foreign citizens serving prison sentences in Portugal.
The president’s office today reported that "Humanitarian reasons were the foundations that formed the basis of the leniency granted."
