Last Sunday, January 18th, as we all surely remember, the people were called to the polls to elect the next President of the Republic. Many voters chose to cast their ballots early, and the outcome is now known. Only two candidates secured enough votes to face each other on February 8, when the nation will decide who will be elected to serve for the next four years, in accordance with the role the Constitution assigns to the presidency. It is well understood that the President does not govern. Rather, the office exists to safeguard national independence, preserve the unity of the country, ensure the proper functioning of democratic institutions, and represent the State. The President is also Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and the guardian of the Constitution, with the authority to appoint the Prime Minister, dissolve the Assembly of the Republic, and veto legislation—acting, above all, as an arbiter and as a symbol of the Nation.

One of the powers the President of the Republic must take into account is the composition of Portugal itself: a country made up of the districts that form mainland Portugal.

Yet Portugal is what it is precisely because it also includes the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira, regions that add undeniable value to the country, even if they so often seem to be treated by the Republic as a “heavy burden.”

It is necessary to remind the Republic—and above all the new occupant who will soon take up residence in Belém—that the Azores constitute the frontier between Europe and the United States of America, with a maritime Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 930,687 square kilometers, while Madeira accounts for another 442,248 square kilometers.

Together, the vast Atlantic maritime areas of the Azores and Madeira form an Exclusive Economic Zone exceeding 1.3 million square kilometers—an expanse that is, in itself, crucial for biodiversity, fisheries, and the blue economy.

Given this reality, the importance of the Autonomous Regions cannot be left in a kind of limbo, waiting on the Republic for a “pauper’s handout”—promised time and again, yet rarely delivered. This includes the long-overdue revision of the so-called “New Regional Finance Law,” which has been gathering dust and awaiting reform since the era of the TROIKA government, which imposed restrictions on everything and everyone.

This editorial should serve as a warning to the new resident of the Belém Palace, who will be chosen by the people on February 8, 2026. I hope that this future occupant remembers what was done to him at the end of the TROIKA years in partisan terms, and that this memory allows the President elected on February 8 to remember the peripheries—and those who depend on them—because they lack a new horizon. The world is in need of action and justice, two forces that remain trapped in limbo, waiting for humanity to find itself again by bringing an end to death and destruction, and by stopping the killing of innocents.

Natalino Viveiros is the editor of the newspaper Correio dos Açores. He was a member of various governments of the Mota Amaral administrations in the Regional Government.

NOVIDADES will feature occasional opinion pieces from various leading thinkers and writers in the Azores, providing the diaspora and those interested in the current state of the Azores with insight into the diverse opinions on some of the archipelago’s key 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).