Aníbal Cavaco Silva’s weight today is “naturally very low”. The former President of the Republic “is a politician who reaches the age of 90 years [tem atualmente 84 anos]whose influence, even in his own party, is small,” says political scientist António Costa Pinto. With four absolute majorities – two as President of the Republic and two as Head of Government –, a relative majority and a defeat in the presidential elections, against Jorge Sampaio, also the former leader of the PSD, is seen by experts as an inevitable figure who contributed to the building of the democratic regime and with indelible ties to Portugal’s integration into the European Union. But he is also a figure from a past that should not be forgotten.
The Prime Minister and the Art of Governing. This is the title of Cavaco Silva’s book, which came to the public’s attention this week, in the form of a recommendation and reminder for future generations. The message is clear and, as the author himself admits on the back cover, it is the future of young people that he is “concerned about”. Hence the memory of the “fiftieth anniversary of the April 25 revolution, a fundamental moment of our democracy”.
“Squeezed it will not be included in the anthology of breviaries of princes or political theorists. What he usually says are banalities in an epic tone,” says DN the professor of political science Adelino Maltez, about the most recent work of Cavaco Silva, who admits that he hasn’t read it yet. As for the former ruler’s concerns about the future of young people, the political scientist draws on the past and says that “it’s marketing, pure and simple. That’s why even if he said nothing, he said a lot,” he adds . However, for Adelino Maltez, Cavaco Silva and Mário Soares are ‘the two most responsible for the regime’. [democrático]Therefore, it will always reach the next generations. It is typical of Professor Cavaco Silva. When you write something, it is always well revised, but in the end it becomes an exercise in style, it is not a political doctrine, it is a suggestion that says that ‘I was an honest and far-reaching man in my time. Young people. Note that those in power now are not like me.” Talking, concluding.
“Politicians are always keen to portray an image of being innovative and influential, of having an impact on the youth, and this is an aspect that is an aspiration,” emphasizes political science professor Paula do Espírito Santo, guaranteeing that “in most cases in In these cases it will not be easy, especially for a politician who is not active, to exert this influence.” In this sense, the release of a book by Cavaco Silva about his experiences with governance, aimed at young people, continues the political scientist, “an argument for some reflection, because it will have no effect on active politics, but will be more rounded.” what he understands his speech could be and not in terms of what it actually is. Because the main audience of his work will not be young people unless he speaks to the most politicized youth and especially to those from the right-wing political world . spectrum,” the researcher analyzes.
The same idea is confirmed by António Costa Pinto. “From the point of view of the educated university elite, [a memória de Cavaco Silva] will definitely arrive. Especially since, for example, any political science student studying Portuguese democracy will have to read these works. But it’s not worth thinking that it will go viral on social media. It’s normal, you’re 90 years old,” he thinks.
A full room
Last Friday, the Grémio Literário in Lisbon was filled with figures from the right to receive Cavaco Silva’s latest work. In the front row two prominent social democratic personalities: the party leader Luís Montenegro and the mayor of Lisbon Carlos Moedas. Beside them, Manuela Eanes, who represented her husband, emphasized the importance of the first President of the Republic, elected by universal suffrage, for democracy. However, Ramalho Eanes himself was not present. The remaining seats were occupied by figures from the PSD or the right in general, such as former rulers Manuela Ferreira Leite and Eduardo Catroga. Standing in a corner, the 40-year-old secretary general of the PSD, Hugo Soares, showed that there is still youth in the party. The various velvet chairs fulfilled the function of seating the notables of the PSD, who are not yet so young. Former Prime Minister José Manuel Durão Barroso, who presented the book, attacked those who criticized it before even reading it. “It may be the word envy when you talk about someone who has achieved the most spectacular results in democracy, but I think it goes deeper than that, and I say it with a certain regret. I think that in Portugal we have a certain Left that is very dogmatic, that is intolerant and prejudiced,” he said. The message was also spread to “a certain right, with a lack of intelligence and political culture, which feeds the superiority complex of a certain left,” he said, without elaborating on explanations.
The academic in politics
Despite his unique path in politics, Cavaco Silva was an academic from the start. “In ten years’ time, the two absolute majorities will represent, first of all, a member of the economic elite who, linked to an economics professor in the main center-right party, is remarkable in political life,” recalls António Costa Pinto, emphasizing that Cavaco Silva “is Prime Minister in a difficult period of economic and social changes in Portugal, with the accession to the European Union, with major changes on the European political scene, in the modernization of relations between the state and society in Portugal”. Therefore, in writing this book, the professor of political science continues: “Cavaco Silva has, and as far as I know personally, a very important political culture, above the average of the Portuguese political elite. What made him stand out is his rise to the top of political science. power, already in crisis dynamics. But this goes some way to explaining why he writes these books, and the way he wrote his memoirs. This clearly refers to someone who is effectively part of the country’s technical university elite,” he concluded.
Looking ahead, Paula do Espírito Santos believes that Cavaco “will always play a role, as is usually the case with former rulers, of influence from the point of view of reflection, of warnings”. Cavaco Silva is a member of the State Council, the advisory body to the President of the Republic. Under these conditions he still holds a political, non-binding position. However, Adelino Maltez emphasizes: ‘Professor Cavaco Silva does not need organs. He speaks and they listen to him. It is necessary for the patriarchs to speak. In a democracy, the patriarchs speak like patriarchs, they no longer lead the people. the staff has already been transferred. It is a living testimony,” concludes the political scientist.
From ruler to president
The first government
Cavaco Silva won his first parliamentary elections in 1985, with a relative majority, the same year he was elected president of the PSD, at the party congress in Figueira da Foz. His first government would last two years, until 1987, when a censure motion by the Democratic Renewal Party (PRD) overthrew him.
The first majority
In 1987, the then President of the Republic, Mário Soares, called early elections and the PSD, still led by Cavaco, won the parliamentary elections with an absolute majority (with more than 50% of the votes), an unprecedented achievement. deliver democracy. It would go down in history as the XI Constitutional Government.
Europe reaffirmed
In 1991, the PSD would repeat the results of previous parliamentary elections, with an absolute majority. The XI and XII constitutional governments, led by Cavaco Silva, until 1995, were characterized by the integration of Portugal into Europe, at that time still as an economic alliance, the European Economic Community (EEC). It was during Cavaco’s second administration that tax changes came into effect, such as the introduction of the IRS and IRC. In 1992, Portugal assumed the presidency of the European Community for the first time, with Cavaco Silva speaking at the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, the founding document of the European Union. It was during this period that television opened its doors to the private sector.
The presidencies
In 1996, Cavaco ran for president of the republic for the first time, but was defeated by Jorge Sampaio with 47% of the votes. He would run for office again in 2006, the year in which he was first elected head of state. He would repeat this feat in 2011. He has been a member of the State Council since 2016, when he passed the testimony to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
Source: DN
