Francisco César, a member of the Portuguese Parliament, is running for the leadership of the PS/Açores to give the party a “new future” and put the region at the forefront of social indicators, he revealed.
“We want a new future for the PS. A future that is enriched by its past, which in practice is its identity, but which builds a new future for the Autonomous Region of the Azores,” he said.
The Azorean Socialists will elect a new leader on June 29, after Vasco Cordeiro, President of the PS/Açores since 2013, announced that he would not run again.
Arguing that the PS/Azores should be an “autonomist, cosmopolitan and universalist party” that puts the “lives of the people” at the “center of its action,” Francisco César insisted on the need for a new future for the party.
“We want a new future for the PS. A future that is enriched by its past, which, in practice, is its identity, but which builds a new future for the Autonomous Region of the Azores,” stressed the deputy elected by the Azorean archipelago to the Assembly of the Republic.
The so far only candidate for leader of the PS in the region also argued that the Azores “cannot be constantly accommodated” to having the “worst indicators of poverty, domestic violence, education and access to education.”
“It’s not enough for us to improve that [the social indicators]. We want to be the best and we want to lead all these indicators in the country within a generation. It’s a new ambition, a renewed ambition for the Azores that allows us to build a new future,” he stressed.
In the message presenting his candidacy, Francisco César argues that the region needs a “new economic model” and to create a “fourth economic pillar” (in addition to agriculture, fisheries, and tourism) based on the “new economies of the sea, digital, decarbonization and energy transition.”
“The new policy we want to implement isn’t concerned with whether our young people go outside the region to get qualifications or get to know new worlds – on the contrary, we should encourage exactly that possibility – what should really motivate us is that they can, sooner or later, if they wish, have the chance to return,” he says.
The candidate also states that “true development” can only occur in a “mature and transparent democracy,” warning of the importance of “education for all,” an “open and inclusive culture,” and a “free and economically sustainable media.”
“With the scarcity of public and private financial resources in the region, it is necessary to make choices and establish investment priorities in order to maximize the possibilities for development,” he stressed.
Francisco César, who has also been a member of parliament and leader of the PS Caucus in the Regional Assembly, defines the past as a heritage that the party is proud of, but calls for lessons to be learned about what “went well, what didn’t work and what simply ran out of steam or became outdated”.
“The worst mistake the PS/Azores could make, in this new phase of its history, is to make its future the defense of our past. Our past is the identity that we don’t give up, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t evolve our policies, discuss new directions for autonomy and even, in some cases, break with it,” he points out.
Francisco César, 45, with a degree in Economics, is a member of Parliament, Vice-Chairman of the Caucus in the National Assembly, and a member of the party’s national and regional secretariats.

In Diário dso Açores, Osvaldo Cabral-director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance)  at California State University, Fresno–PBBI thanks the sponsorship of the Luso-American Development Foundation from Lisbon, Portugal (FLAD)