I am writing to you now because you will be here on Terceira Island for the June 10 celebrations, the Day of Portugal, Camões, and the Portuguese Communities.

My concern troubles me because on the islands the mist and the wind consume all words; we speak more to the seagulls, who listen to us and echo our concerns, for society has more pressing matters in the daily struggle for existence.

Your political hallmark—one that would surprise Mário Soares in heaven and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on earth—is your closeness to the autonomous regions. This aligns with my belief that the farther an autonomous region stands from the State, the closer it comes to the periphery.

I know that you do not possess the power to revise the Constitution. But I also know that you hold a conviction—indeed, an original one—regarding the successive attempts at constitutional revision: namely, as you yourself have stated, that “the frustration many Portuguese feel is not with the Constitution, but with its non-compliance.”

I follow you precisely on that idea because it reflects reality, and the Portuguese people were thirsting for that kind of political assertiveness. We have an excellent Constitution, and it should only be altered in moments that further the dignity of the human person, not in times such as those we are living through today, marked by extreme insensitivity and even irrationality.

Unfortunately, however, our Constitution has a problem—one that is undermining the democracy of autonomy and eroding the regional unity of the island populations.

When the Constitution created the autonomous region in 1976, the adopted model of government was understandable. We were still living through a turbulent period filled with fears that would only begin to subside after the 1982 constitutional revision, when the transitional institutions were abolished.

At that time, it made sense for the region to have a parliament and a government, and for oversight within the system of government to be exercised from afar by the Presidency of the Republic and, more directly, by a Minister of the Republic responsible for monitoring political life, constitutional compliance, and legality within the region.

This was understandable due to the lack of experience. It was a novelty, and only experience would allow the success of such a model to be assessed. Over the past fifty years, however, the autonomous regions, in matters of constitutional revision and with the assistance of political parties, have concentrated on adjusting mechanisms to escape constitutional scrutiny of legislation rather than improving the system of government itself. Instead of improving laws for the benefit of people, they altered autonomy in ways that facilitated the governance of political parties and the implementation of their programs.

The result has been the destruction of a wealth of constitutional and statutory values that no longer exist. This has steered autonomy toward a democratic model of enormous weakness. What was once imperceptible because of novelty and experimentation—the absence of a true system of government—has now become deeply felt.

The autonomous region does not possess the authority to legislate on fundamental rights. Yet, in governing through laws and normative governmental programs, it draws on constitutional structures and principles that themselves entail fundamental rights, particularly those of equality and universality.

What I mean is that the autonomous region, possessing legislative and, generally speaking, normative powers, constantly operates in ways that affect the fundamental rights of Portuguese citizens living on the islands.

In short, and reducing the matter to its essence, regional politics in the islands deserves a system of government identical to that of the State. It makes little sense for the national system of government to guarantee the constitutionality of governmental policies while the autonomous region operates under an entirely different framework. If it exercises powers similar to those of the State in governing citizens, it should have a similar system—or at the very least one that guarantees the same constitutional safeguards.

The national system of government includes effective mechanisms of political oversight and balance, beginning with the Presidency of the Republic itself. Elected directly by the people, the President possesses the legitimacy—and therefore the capacity—to politically scrutinize both Parliament and Government.

The same does not occur in the autonomous region, where there exists only constitutional and legal review—that is, a contentious form of oversight—but no strictly political oversight.

The Presidency of the Republic, standing outside the political parties, listens to civil society. It summons the Prime Minister and demands explanations. It consults parliamentary party leaders, hears their justifications, and weighs them against the needs and demands of the people and institutions.

Nothing equivalent exists within the autonomous region.

But if the region possesses the same political powers—if, in effect, it exercises powers of statehood on behalf of island citizens—why are those Portuguese citizens denied the same institutional framework of political oversight enjoyed elsewhere in the country?

Are we, in the islands, lesser Portuguese? Do we not possess the same right to protection and the same guarantees of fundamental rights?

Of course, you will tell me that we do—that we must.

And that is precisely why I appeal to you on this day dedicated to the nation and, even more importantly, to the Portuguese people. I ask for your help.

We on these islands do not seek anything better than what other Portuguese citizens enjoy, nor do we seek more. We only ask that autonomy serve us through democracy and not through an autonomy devoid of democratic safeguards.

May I count on your support?

I know it will be difficult, for you possess no direct power in this matter. And the two autonomous regions, as territorial public entities, do not wish for change, because they seek to preserve the population in a condition of democratic servitude. Since there are no regional political parties devoted to defending autonomy itself, we are left with no one to defend us.

Only one constitutional and sovereign institution remains capable of guaranteeing, within the autonomous region as well, the same constitutional and democratic sovereignty that is guaranteed on the mainland.

Please, I ask you: listen to us, for time is urgent.

Throughout the centuries, we have proven that no people are more Lusitanian in spirit than the Azorean islanders. Over the last fifty years, we have demonstrated our loyalty to the Republic, to national unity, to the democratic State, and to Portuguese identity.

Now we need the State itself to act and, while there is still time, to alter the deplorable condition into which Azorean autonomy has fallen.

Arnaldo Ourique writes on themes related to the Azorean public policy. Azorean Autonomy and Portuguese Constitutional issues in the Azorean press, and there are many books written on these topics.