The President of the Republic defended this Wednesday that there should be more young people in political decision-making positions and called for the fight against racist and selfish proposals and the idea of a strong European Union, closed to the world.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke during the closing session of the “Democracy Conference: Youth in Action”, at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, to an audience composed mainly of young people.
“It is at your age that the world changes. I hope that older people realize that it is time to give up a lot of places to younger people. If they want to renew Portuguese democracy and European democracies, there is nothing better than to start renewing those who have the decisive say”he declared at the end of his speech.
The head of state added “This will also be a major challenge for Europe next year”referring to the European Parliament elections in June 2024, and concluded: “It’s in your hands. Let’s get started on it now. Long live a democratic, but social and supportive Europe.”
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa discussed the topic of youth participation in politics right at the beginning of his intervention, which lasted about half an hour, as “One of the problems of democracies, and of European democracies, is that there are few young people in decision-making positions in national and European politics”.
‘This is how regimes age’he warned.
The President of the Republic criticized the fact that a person of 30 or 40 years would be “very young” and argued that this “It is a problem of mentality, it is a problem of civic culture and it is a fundamental problem for building a stronger Europe and a stronger democracy”.
Further on, the head of state asked the young people if “Europe must close itself or it must open itself to the world”and gave the answer and demonstrated to those who understand “It has to be xenophobic, or it has to be racist, or it has to be selfish”.
“Is Europe made for this? No, it is made for the opposite”he argued.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa warned about this “in the debate on the European elections, those will appear who will come up with selfish proposals: ignore the world, close Europe, protect Europe, protect Europe, security visions, not open up, not enter into dialogue, leave solidarity for later”.
“It Can’t Be This Way”he claimed. “You must seek peace, you must seek dialogue, you must fight xenophobia, you must fight inequality and injustice, you must promote development. You have to look, as you said, at the problems of young people, where there is no growth”counteracted.
‘We must avoid the risk of selfishness’he reinforced.
The President of the Republic associated the political participation of young people with the strengthening of democracies within the European Union, to which he attributed a special responsibility at the global level, and considered that women and immigrants also do not have the participation corresponding to their weight . in society .
According to him, the lack of participation of these population groups creates ‘gaps’ that can be filled “Proposals that have nothing to do with the European process, that come from behind, because they are different, and are gradually gaining weight in European societies”.
Upon his departure, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa reaffirmed this position, saying that, 50 years after April 25, “Renewing democracy also means renewing it by giving representation to these sectors, these areas, these social realities”.
The media questioned him again about the case of twins living in Brazil with spinal muscular atrophy who came to Portugal to obtain a drug with a total cost of four million euros, but the head of state stated that he had “nothing to add” to the treatment. the statements he made on Monday.
When asked whether he had already spoken to his son, Nuno Rebelo de Sousa, about his intervention in this case, he replied: “I said what I said. If I didn’t say it at the time I spoke, it’s because I didn’t say it”.
Source: DN
