The president of the Portuguese Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santo Silva, said in Lisbon this Monday that “democracy around the world is going through a cycle of some withdrawal”.
“Unfortunately, democracy around the world is suffering from a cycle of some retreat, as shown by international studies comparing the evolution of autocracies to the evolution of liberal democracies around the world,” emphasized Santos Silva, speaking at the opening session of the works of the XI Legal Forum of Lisbon.
According to Santos Silva, the “withdrawal cycle” occurs for two reasons: it is referenced in “consolidated and mature democracies” and the risk of “entropy” of democratic institutions.
“Not only because the disturbances, the democratic institutionality are also felt in consolidated and mature democracies, as recent events in countries like the United States or Brazil show, but also the democratic institutions themselves must look inward and take measures that put an end to an entropy from which they suffer and must look outward and find new ways to consolidate the social recognition that democratic institutions need, or else they could collapse,” he explained.
Using the theme of the opening session of the Forum’s work, “Democratic rule of law and defense of institutions”, Augusto Santos Silva emphasized that “people’s mistrust of public rulers”, their distancing from the basic principles of the rule of law and democratic institutions constitute “a danger to these institutions and must be combated”.
“And the best fight is the one that concerns education for democratic citizenship and the reference example that institutions should be for all countries in their day-to-day functioning,” he added.
For Santos Silva “there is no better antidote to forms of perversion of democracy than the defense of the rule of law and the fundamental principles of the rule of law, the constitution and the law, the separation of powers, the independence of the judiciary, the freedom of the press , freedom of speech”.
“And academic freedom is a very important part of that freedom. The freedom for us to be able to think and discuss together about the problems and solutions of our present, from our own academic disciplines, from our own areas of research, areas of research,” he added .
With the President of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil, Arthur Lira, at his side, Santos Silva announced that on the 28th, the parliaments of both countries will sign the first memorandum of cooperation between the two parliamentary institutions.
In his speech, Santos Silva also underlined the importance of “very close relations between Portugal and Brazil”.
Source: DN
