As the Azores marked the Day of the Autonomous Region in Ponta Delgada, João Bruto da Costa argued that the archipelago’s growing geopolitical importance to the Western world must finally translate into tangible gains for the people who live in the islands.

His message placed the Azores squarely within the evolving strategic realities of the Atlantic world.

“Europe needs the Azores. The Atlantic Alliance needs the Azores. Western democracies need this platform in the middle of the Atlantic,” he declared during the commemorative ceremony. Yet he immediately attached a condition to that recognition: “Azoreans need that importance to go beyond mere words or occasional speeches.”

The statement reflects a broader political conversation now intensifying across the archipelago as international instability, transatlantic tensions, energy security concerns, maritime defense, digital infrastructure, and military logistics increasingly restore the Atlantic to the center of global strategic thinking.

For João Bruto da Costa, the same geography that historically isolated the islands is precisely what now grants them renewed international relevance.

The Azores, he argued, occupy “a relevant Atlantic dimension and a meeting point of fundamental geopolitical interests,” positioning the archipelago as a strategic platform whose value must be politically leveraged rather than symbolically acknowledged.

That idea carries deep historical resonance.

For centuries, the islands functioned as maritime crossroads linking Europe, Africa, and the Americas. During the twentieth century, the strategic role of the Lajes Air Base became central to NATO operations and transatlantic military logistics. Today, amid renewed geopolitical fragmentation, maritime competition, digital connectivity concerns, and growing security tensions, the Azores once again find themselves occupying a privileged — and potentially powerful — Atlantic position.

But Bruto da Costa insisted that strategic value alone is insufficient if it remains disconnected from the lived realities of island populations.

“The central political challenge,” he argued, “is transforming that strategic value into concrete benefits for Azoreans.”

In practical terms, he identified investment, transportation connectivity, territorial cohesion, and economic compensation as essential priorities. The relevance of the islands to the Western alliance system, he maintained, should generate measurable returns capable of improving infrastructure, strengthening mobility, and reducing the structural burdens of insularity.

“In short,” he stated, “the strategic relevance of the Azores to the Western world must translate into fair compensation.”

The intervention also revisited the meaning of autonomy itself during this fiftieth anniversary year. João Bruto da Costa described autonomy not as a concession from Lisbon, but as an affirmation of identity and mutual trust between the Azorean people and the Portuguese Republic.

“Today we can calmly affirm that this trust was well exercised,” he declared, pointing to the construction of democratic institutions, the development of regional competencies, and the implementation of public policies with direct impact on citizens’ lives over the past half-century.

At the same time, the PSD parliamentary leader rejected any notion that autonomy weakens national unity. On the contrary, he described regional self-government as an expression of “territorial intelligence,” arguing that autonomy strengthens Portugal precisely by allowing geographically distinct realities to govern themselves more effectively.

Yet the speech avoided triumphalism.

Bruto da Costa warned that autonomy did not erase the condition of ultraperipherality. Geographic isolation, mobility costs, logistical dependency, and unequal access to services remain structural realities of life in the islands. These challenges, he argued, require more ambitious political responses in the coming decades.

Particularly significant was his focus on younger generations — a recurring theme throughout this year’s Day of the Azores commemorations.

“When a young person feels forced to leave in search of opportunity,” he observed, “it reminds us that autonomy is not a completed task.”

That sentence connected geopolitical strategy directly to demographic survival.

Because for many in the Azores today, the true measure of political success is not symbolic recognition alone, but whether the islands can create conditions allowing younger generations to remain, return, and build meaningful futures there.

The speech therefore attempted to merge two distinct visions of the Azores:
the islands as an increasingly strategic Atlantic platform for the Western world,
and the islands as fragile communities still struggling with the everyday consequences of insularity.

The challenge, according to João Bruto da Costa, is ensuring those two realities finally reinforce one another.

The Atlantic importance of the Azores, in this vision, should not merely serve military alliances, diplomatic rhetoric, or international logistics networks. It should become a lever for social cohesion, economic opportunity, infrastructure modernization, and demographic renewal within the archipelago itself.

The speech concluded with a reaffirmation of Azorean identity not as limitation, but as strategic and cultural strength.

“To be Azorean is not a limitation,” Bruto da Costa stated. “It is an identity, a responsibility, and a strategic position that we must continue affirming with confidence and determination.”

Fifty years after autonomy, that may be one of the defining political questions now facing the islands: how to transform geographic isolation into geopolitical advantage without losing sight of the people whose lives give meaning to the archipelago itself.

Translated and adapted from a Press Rlease