This week, we have witnessed several political episodes that only raise the dignity of their protagonists, a rare thing in Portuguese and Azorean politics.

Vasco Cordeiro’s farewell from the presidency of the Committee of the Regions was a moment of Portuguese and Azorean pride, with the Presidents of the Assembly and Government of the Azores present, in a moment of great political dignity, ignored by the Lisbon media, which prefers to continue devouring the case of the Azorean MP’s suitcases.

The presence of political opponents at Vasco Cordeiro’s ceremony only dignifies politics, its protagonists, and our region.

Vasco Cordeiro has served an exemplary term, from every point of view, always in defense of the European regions, especially the most disadvantaged ones. He has not forgotten his fight, at this final stage, for the continuity of the cohesion policy, which is under fierce attack from the European centralists.

For several years now, I have been criticizing the absurd waste of our region not taking advantage of the experience and contacts at the highest level of the Presidents of the Regional Governments. When their mandates end, they are simply abandoned by the regional political system, which has no figure to protect them and use their knowledge for other advisory tasks and to support the regional institutions.

Mota Amaral is teaching at university, Carlos César has gone to work in politics on the mainland, Vasco Cordeiro is returning to practicing law, and José Manuel Bolieiro will certainly do the same when his term ends.

Former Presidents of the Republic or former Prime Ministers are called upon to be advisors to the State, go on to chair the European Council or the European Commission, collaborate with the Portuguese State on advisory missions, or represent the country internationally at international events and ceremonies.

Around here, we simply say goodbye to the former Presidents. We don’t have any statutory figure that allows us to maintain their collaborations and knowledge acquired in the important positions they held, and perhaps we don’t even have the dignity of listening to them anymore.

Good politicians with a lot of experience and knowledge who bring dignity to politics cannot be dismissed like this in a small land.

Politics has to be seen as honorable, but politicians must also be honorable.

In this sense, we must also highlight the courage of the President of the Regional Assembly of the Azores, who this week warned of the causes that distance citizens from politicians.

In an excellent speech that went unnoticed by the public, Luís Garcia spoke of people’s distance from politics and politicians before around 60 priests in Ponta Delgada at a Clergy Training Day.

“We could debate the causes, but they are well known, and unfortunately many politicians have contributed to this,” said Luís Garcia, who highlighted external causes such as ‘a society where in the media and social networks there is no room for the positive’.

“When we are given a political, social or parochial mission, it’s not to destroy what was done well by our predecessors, nor is it just to continue what was being done, because then the change won’t work,” insisted the President of Parliament, asking everyone to be part of this desire for change, as reported by Igreja Açores.

“With inspiration, work, innovation and interaction with our communities, we don’t just provide a service, we must be part of them, their institutions, their problems, share their desires and challenges,” stressed Luís Garcia.

“The future of institutions, whether of a temporal or spiritual nature, means that this more institutional dimension must be supplemented by a more informal one, perhaps one that encourages people to get involved,” he said, adding that ‘we are all sowers’ and not fruit gatherers.

“Our mission is to sow, to be sowers,” he emphasized.

Now, that’s a message with dignity, and that dignifies politics.

We need to know how to sow, explain, communicate, and tell the truth instead of the political tricks and insults we see in our politics daily.

When a government official says there is no money because resources are scarce, and people are outraged, it’s because we’ve been feeding people for decades that they shouldn’t worry about anything because the state will take care of everything.

It’s a culture of laziness that has taken hold, creating a dependent and subservient society that always waits for help from the state.

Changing this mentality is not easy.

But we must not give up and continue to sow.

Editorial of the Diário dos Açores Newspaper (02-25-2025)

Osvaldo Cabral is the Executive Director of Diário dos Açores.

NOVIDADES will feature occasional opinion pieces from various leading thinkers, writers, and editorial boards from the Azores to give the diaspora and those interested in the current Azores a sense of the significant opinions on some of the archipelago’s issues.

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).