The new Representative of the Republic for the Azores pledged to carry out her duties with “seriousness, serenity, and closeness,” while ensuring a climate of “frank dialogue” with the region’s self-governing institutions.

“It is my firm intention to exercise the office I have assumed with absolute seriousness, but also with genuine serenity, confident that only from a position of complete impartiality will I be able to build the bridges that Azorean autonomy deserves and needs in order to prosper over the medium and long term,” said Susana Goulart Costa.

The Representative of the Republic for the Autonomous Region of the Azores, who was sworn into office on April 24 in Lisbon, spoke yesterday at Air Base No. 4 during a ceremony attended by the President of the Azorean Government, José Manuel Bolieiro, and the President of the Legislative Assembly of the Azores, Luís Garcia, among other dignitaries.

In her first public address since taking office, the first woman and first Azorean-born figure to assume the position said she was prepared to create “bridges between the region’s self-governing institutions and the sovereign bodies of the Portuguese state, bridges that can be crossed in both directions,” while also strengthening ties with municipal entities, civil society institutions, cultural organizations, and the media.

“Fully aware that many investments and improvements still need to be made, I will always remain available to the region’s self-governing institutions so that, within a climate of honest dialogue, we may contribute to building an autonomy with a future,” she stated.

Susana Goulart Costa also committed herself to “cooperating toward an Autonomy capable of continuing the construction of a more just and compassionate society, grounded in the dignity of the human person,” while also preparing to “face the challenges of a near future that threatens to become dystopian.”

She argued that the autonomous institutions must reinvent themselves in order to confront challenges such as the digital transition, the spread of artificial intelligence, climate change, the demographic crisis, and the creation of mechanisms for intergenerational justice.

The Representative of the Republic acknowledged that the office “is not without controversy,” but insisted that within the framework of Portugal’s unitary yet regionalized state, the constitutional role “is not useless,” and under her mandate “will never be futile.”

“No institution dedicated to defending the values of the rule of law, the fundamental rights of citizens, and the foundational principles of constitutionality and legality — through the legal scrutiny of political power — can ever be considered expendable or redundant,” she emphasized.

“The systems of checks and balances, the mechanisms of political accountability, and the principle of transparency in public life are not only the best antidotes to the temptations of power, but also the strongest guarantees of good governance directed toward the common good, security in its many forms, and social peace,” she added.

Susana Goulart Costa succeeds Pedro Catarino, who served as Representative of the Republic for the Azores for 15 years.

Born in 1969 in Angra do Heroísmo, on Terceira Island, she holds a Ph.D. in History and most recently served as a professor at the University of the Azores and as a researcher at CHAM — the Center for the Humanities of NOVA University Lisbon and the University of the Azores.

She previously served as a regional legislator, elected on the Socialist Party ticket, and as Regional Director of Culture during the administration of Vasco Cordeiro.