Democracy only lives if it is economically sustainable, according to Portugal's President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
The president argued that the country needs examples of wealth creation, as he spoke during a ceremony in Castelo Branco honouring Hélder Rafael, founder of the clothing company Dielmar.
The head of state recalled that Castelo Branco produced the first President of the Republic elected in a democracy, Ramalho Eanes, and that this "already has been an important contribution to democracy. But democracy only lives if it is economically sustainable.”
Hélder Rafael, who died about a month and a half ago, was a master tailor and helped found Dielmar, a company that now has 400 workers, mostly women.
The homage to Helder Rafael, he said, is also a tribute to "all those" who have managed to create wealth "which is harder away from the big urban centres."
A director of the company, Ana Paula Rafael, said that the government largely ignores the interior of the country, emphasizing that desertification "is not healthy" for Portugal.
The Economy Minister, Manuel Caldeira Cabral, was present and made it clear that "the Government is committed to re-launch the development of the interior," a claim that has been a constant theme through several recent governments.
"The interior has been forgotten in many respects in recent years," admitted Cabral, noting that companies such as Dielmar do a lot for the development of the interior," unlike successive governments which have failed to halt the move of population from the countryside to coastal urban centres and abroad.
As for the president linking democracy to a thriving business sector, this will have political analysts scratching their heads to work his particular strand of reasoning.
