The Portuguese leader was born on December 4, 1924. Until December 2025, Filamentos will feature stories and testimonials of Mário Soáres.

Presidents of the Republic of Portugal and Cabo Verde,
Excellencies,
My dear Isabel and João Soares,
Friends, admirers and comrades of Mário Soares,

It is truly an honor and a privilege for me that my first public speech in Portugal in my capacity as President of the European Council is to mark 100 years since the birth of Mário Soares.

But it is also a moral imperative for me to be with you today.

Because Portugal’s history in the 20th century would not have been the same without Mário Soares.

Because our freedom would not be complete without the courage of Mário Soares.

Because our democratic history over the last 50 years would not be the example that it is without the key part that he played.

Because the collective existence of my parents’ generation, my own generation, that of my children and now my granddaughter’s generation would not be the same without the involvement of Mário Soares.

Because the inclusive, tolerant and cosmopolitan direction that Europe has taken would not have been the same if Mário Soares had not played such an active role.

Mário Soares is not merely a great figure in Portugal; he is one of the great citizens of a Europe of freedom, democracy and peace.

Mário Soares belonged to the generation that began their political struggle in the tragic period of World War II, and his first major public demonstration would have been the great popular celebrations of the Allies’ victory that erupted in the streets of a muzzled central Lisbon; a decisive moment, it seems, for the awakening of the love, friendship, companionship and camaraderie he enjoyed with Maria de Jesus Barroso.

Mário Soares always viewed Portugal as a Europeanist. He viewed Portugal with European eyes. Always faithful to the humanist values that rebuilt Europe in the aftermath of war, brought it closer together, integrated and enlarged it. A common destiny in the defence of humanism, freedom, peace, social justice, prosperity and democracy.

And since he viewed Portugal with those ideals, Mário Soares always fought for a free and fairer country, one with less inequality and that was increasingly open to the world. Because only by fulfilling these values could Portugal change the course of its history as a dictatorship, put an end to colonialism and find its way to a fortunate history in Europe.

As early as June 1964, ten years before the Carnation Revolution, Mário Soares wrote the following in the newspaper República, in an article entitled Estados Unidos da Europa (United States of Europe): ‘In a world where only large economic entities served by considerable human settlements have any weight, Europe, which is divided into small hostile homelands, will either find a convenient way of uniting or will become less relevant in relation to major global problems’. It is impossible not to take the end of this quoted passage, written in 1964, as forewarning for today.

Sixty years later, this same idea could also apply to modern times, which, in the face of similar assessments, does not diminish our permanent belief in a European future of greater autonomy, greater union and greater prosperity.

For Mário Soares, building a democratic Portugal was utterly inseparable from fighting colonialism and from European integration. This is one of the cornerstones of his vision of and for Portugal.

Thus, from the agreement he negotiated and signed on behalf of the Portuguese Government with the PAIGC on 30 August 1974, recognising Guinea-Bissau’s independence and Cape Verde’s right to self-determination and independence, to Portugal’s formal request to join the then EEC in 1977, Mário Soares steered Portugal along the road back to peace and its full and active involvement in the concert of free and democratic nations.

It was in this European direction for Portugal – free, democratic, western, but open to the world – that Soares forged a persistent path, involving sustainable economic development, the normalisation of political life, constitutional stability and the primacy of the social state.

Strengthening Portugal’s profile as a promoter of moderation, of building bridges, faithful to multilateralism and solid support in our alliances, starting with NATO, credible in our external missions, while also promoting our national interest in the global context.

It was a Europeanism that led him to found a major party – the Socialist Party – that fitted into the great European political families, because he also understood that Europe would guarantee the consolidation of a democratic Portugal and its prosperity. This was his first step towards joining Europe, a path he continued on as a leader.

From the great ‘Europe with us’ rally to his oft-repeated reference to son ami Mitterrand, Soares managed to create, recreate and mobilise European solidarity across our Union.

To this end, he first took advantage of the network of his exiled comrades, such as Ramos da Costa and Manuel Tito de Morais, and his own exile in France to set a course and consolidate support, which was then decisive in preventing the totalitarian deviations of the Revolution, ensuring Portugal’s economic and financial survival in the post-revolutionary period, and finally guaranteeing the country’s integration into what was then the European Economic Community.

Despite having presided over three very short-lived governments, Mário Soares’ determination meant that they played a decisive role, and that he was involved at the very beginning, during and at the end of Portugal’s process of accession to the European Economic Community.

This was the case as early as 1977, when, together with José Medeiros Ferreira, he formalised Portugal’s application for membership of the EEC, a path that had huge consequences on the consolidation of a civilian political regime, a market economy and political pluralism.

And once again, in 1985, when, together with Jaime Gama, Rui Machete and Ernani Lopes, he signed the EEC accession treaty in the cloisters of the Jerónimos Monastery, one of the last acts of the last government he led, which was being ousted at the time.

This ensured our full membership of the European project, providing a continuous and historically unparalleled benefit, with the opening of borders, economic and social development, the reduction of poverty and inequalities, an enormous leap in our education system and a new cultural worldview.

We know that many problems remain, but Portugal today is radically different from the Portugal we had in 1985, and much of this difference is explained by our accession to the then EEC.

And this was the Portugal that Soares dreamed of, totally open to the world. Europe was, from then on, firmly with us.

But it was also this Europeanism that helped build the unity of Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall, German reunification, the wars in the Balkans, the integration of Eastern European countries, and multiple crises of trust and cohesion amongst its members.

To Mário Soares and his political generation we owe the victory of strategic vision over the resistance of smaller interests, the victory of will over the fear of those who were afraid of the challenge of integration, the preservation of the common interest over insurmountable disagreement, a culture of diplomacy over violent conflict, ethics over vulgarity.

This is the way the European Union has acted and will continue to act. With courage and audacity. Providing an example and statesmanship. With compromise and tolerance. Welcoming and opening. With difference and convergence. Soares played a leading role in promoting this approach in Portugal and also Europe, uniting our destinies.

It was therefore unsurprising that after serving as foreign minister, prime minister and president of the Republic, he was also elected as an MEP, a struggle that for him was timeless in terms of his values. And Europe recognised this struggle, immortalising him by naming one of the European Parliament’s hemicycles after him.

Or even more recently, when the College of Europe in Bruges named him as patron for the 2020-2021 academic year, during the most recent Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union. This is constant proof of the timelessness of his cause, of his legacy across generations, and his cross-cutting historical and cultural importance, not only in Portugal but also in Europe.

And because any discussion about Europe also involves talking about culture, we cannot forget that Mário Soares was, perhaps more so than a politician, a deeply cultured person who loved European culture. Its writers, its artists, its cafés and restaurants, its cinema. Ultimately, it is where freedom prevails, where boldness takes over, where courage is expressed.

The history of Europe, enlightened, humanist, at times tragic, but always hopeful and prosperous, known for its disputes and existential crises, should fear neither the present nor the future.

Quite the opposite. It needs more culture in its nervous system in order to promote tolerance. More self-love in its soul, to allow confidence to shine through. And more ambition in its verve, so that the fatalism of the will succumbs definitively to the optimism of reason.

Today, in these times of tension and fear, we need Mário Soares’ inspiration more than ever so that, in Portugal and in the EU, we can strengthen what unites us in order to confront what tries to divide us: imperial impulses, protectionist temptations, nationalist and xenophobic aims, misinformation and disruptive intentions.

And yet today we remain a proudly open country, and we are a proudly solid Europe.

We are all, therefore, Mário Soares’ legacy: those who followed him and those who opposed him, those who stood up to him and those who supported him, those who spent time with him and those who never met him, those who were formed politically with him and those who became full citizens after he left.

It is his timeless greatness that we celebrate today on his centenary. In Portugal and in Europe. It is this intergenerational dimension that should guide us in the future.

Today, 100 years after his birth, and always, long live Mário Soares!

From EU