“Portugal has been in this almost somnambulant, dormant state for too long, watching successive trains of problems approach. It stands on the tracks looking at the trains, analyzing their relative speed, seeing the color and brand of the locomotive, whether it is clean or not, but it does not move from the line or decide to face the problems and try to solve them, preparing to be run over once again by these challenges,” stated Cotrim de Figueiredo at the 3rd Liberal Professional Forum in Porto.
The liberal further highlighted that Portugal has specialized in identifying what went wrong only after a tragedy occurs, such as a fire or when elevator cables snap—referring to the accident on the Elevador da Glória.
“Let’s try to do the opposite. Let’s try to ensure that the likelihood of something going wrong is much lower,” he said.
In his view, a late decision, no matter how good, is already bad.
For this reason, Cotrim de Figueiredo believes it is necessary to awaken Portugal to the challenges and dangers it faces, pulling it out of its current state of somnambulism.
