“It was with great consternation that I received firsthand the news and conveyed it to the National Council of PSD. Naturally, we have already paid a profound, fair, warm tribute to the one who symbolizes our formation, our values, and our instrument of intervention in our country,” stated to journalists.
In Lisbon, the head of government also recalled Joaquim Magalhães Mota and Francisco Sá Carneiro, who alongside Pinto Balsemão, founded the PPD-PSD: “They sponsored and promoted the act of establishing the PPD, now PSD, structuring its ideological matrix and affirming its programmatic principles and values that still inspire and nurture us today.”
Pointing out that it was these values that inspired candidacies in the recent local elections, Montenegro also spoke of “public power in representation of the people.”
“We have always been very inspired by this founding act, and it is indeed very sad news – of someone who was always very close and present until the end. Always with a friendly word, encouragement, appreciation, and analysis, during all election campaigns, every moment of reflection, never hiding his views and often urging us to deepen social democracy in light of the current situation of the country, Europe, and the world,” he stated.
Noting that Pinto Balsemão was also a founder of democracy, Montenegro further referred to Pinto Balsemão as a former prime minister. “Not only through the leadership of the PSD but also through government leadership, he transformed the life of the country,” he considered.
Montenegro mentioned that national mourning should be declared on the day the funeral ceremonies are held, for which there are no public details yet.
Montenegro remembered Balsemão as someone who, as prime minister and PSD leader, managed “to transform the life of the country and embody in political decisions the principles of valuing private initiative, the principles of respecting fundamental values and rights of citizens, access to health, education, mobility, and housing as instruments of human dignity and the promotion of true equality of opportunities.”
“These principles are still part of the PSD’s identity matrix, and thus it is with deep sorrow and much, much sadness that we receive this news,” he said.
The PSD leader also highlighted Pinto Balsemão’s role in forming a “free press” in Portugal.
“The foundation, namely of Expresso and later of the Impresa group, are good demonstrations of the will that Francisco Pinto Balsemão’s personality always had, beyond direct political intervention through the institution he founded, the PSD, and through the public positions he held, his professional life ended up energizing and deepening our democracy,” he affirmed.
When questioned about the potential cancellation of the prime minister’s agenda, he stated that he had not yet reorganized, adding that “despite knowing the state of health” of Pinto Balsemão, “the event was not naturally in the forecasts and expectations.”
“He was always a fighter and already overcame many moments of fragility. This time, he encountered this departure, and we are with his family and the journey,” he stated.
Regarding the last time he exchanged views with PSD’s number one member, Montenegro mentioned talking to him “before and after the legislative elections,” “around summertime.”
A founder and number one member of the PSD, Balsemão led the VII and VIII constitutional governments between 1981 and 1983. He founded the newspaper Expresso before the 25th of April and later SIC.
