Think and contest Portugal
By João Tavares, SEDES board
Over the last few years, most of the think tanks created in Portugal were short-lived, based on current agendas that sought to put pressure on political power or because they simply fulfilled their purpose of existence. Political think tanks are practically non-existent in ours, starting to function more like a historic country of their founders, unlike what happens in Europe, as is the case with the German Konrad Adenauer Stiftung or the Spanish Fundción para el Analisis y the Estudios Sociales.
In this way, the following question arises: does its existence make sense in a small country like Portugal?
The answer is yes. Since 1995, a Portuguese political class has been gradually promoting a real discussion about the future paths that Portugal should follow or choose. Each year that passes the aggravated political parties, especially if the political parties and the aggravated political parties, are marked by discussions of the deficiencies of the aggravated political blocks, they are marked by discussions of the problems of the aggravated political parties, those that promote in promoting the consensus of the political parties. , and opt for factional dialogues, neglecting the future of the Portuguese nation.
During the Marcelist Spring, in the last days of the Estado Novo, given the need to force the discussion of important issues of that time, civil society generated a so-called SEDES, which people were founded by a response group, coming from different academic backgrounds, social strata, professional activities and political options, but united by the same values.
SE DESTAS capacity, its V Congress, one of, in addition to having an idea of aggregation of ideas and the elaboration of concrete proposals, has a capacity of aggregation of both participants, which will contribute to contribute, in order to generate a concrete response and consensual to a concrete problem.
In a world marked by the pandemic crisis of covid-19, the global economic and financial crisis and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, immobility cannot continue to be an option in Portugal.
It has been 90 years since António de Oliveira do Salazar took over the reins on the premise that there is no debate from the homeland. Portugal by Ramalho Eanes, Mário Soares, Francisco Sá Carneiro, Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles and Adelino Amaro da Costa showed that the homeland must be chosen to define the path for the country’s future.
The reappointment of Álvaro Beleza and the rest of the team for another imperative is the answering of a call to promote the debates that we need to have.
Reconciling political independence, credibility, intellectual funding and visibility is the challenge of an institution like SEDES, which has to function as a bridge between the State and civil society at this time. More than ever we need to think and propose Portugal, reflect on the Portuguese position in the world, as well as the future of the European project.
If the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is considered our Ministry of Culture, SEDES could be our Ministry of the Future.