AZORES | Democracies are the “best reference for the vision of peace, humanism and prosperity of peoples”

The President of the Regional Government defended this Wednesday that “democracies are the best reference for the vision of peace, humanism and prosperity of peoples.”

Speaking in Angra do Heroísmo, on Terceira Island, at the closing of the international conference on “New Security and Defence Challenges,” promoted by the Regional Government, José Manuel Bolieiro warned against “extremism” that seeks to “destroy the functioning of democracy.”

“It is important that in the world of politics, not only internal but also external, democracies defend themselves and lose the tendency of naivety and plurality that seeks to destroy, through extremism, the functioning of democracy,” he noted.

Stressing the importance of “trusting in behaviours, procedures and attitudes,” the President of the Regional Government launched the challenge to “distrust non-democrats, even those who may live in a democracy.”

The President of the Government condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and expressed “solidarity with the Ukrainian people in the defence of their identity, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” defending the importance of “the functioning of democracies, the respect for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the full sovereignty of countries, and the definition of borders.”

According to José Manuel Bolieiro, the “maritime and spatial dimensions of Portugal, with the Azores and Madeira, are a transatlantic reference of centrality as well as of the importance and relevance for these increasingly emerging changes” in view of “the current risks and threats.”

Likewise, the Vice-President of the Regional Government, Artur Lima, who opened this international conference, emphasised the “relevant geopolitical role” of Terceira Island, namely through the Lajes Base, which was a “reference point for the preservation of world peace.”

“I believe that our geostrategic potential has not been lost over time. The Atlantic centrality of the Azores and Terceira continues today to be an asset, not only for our regional development but also for the maintenance of global security,” he said.

The international conference on “New Security and Defence Challenges” took place at the Capitães Generais Palace, in Angra do Heroísmo, and had as keynote speaker Anders Adlercreutz, Minister of European Affairs and Property Management of the Government of Finland.

Armando Mendes, Miguel Monjardino and Vladislav Lanovoy shared a reflection on the context of Russia’s war with Ukraine and the ongoing reorganisation of the world order. 

GRA/RÁDIOILHÉU