The chairman of the Impresa group and founder of the PSD, Francisco Pinto Balsemão, was today awarded the University of Coimbra Prize for his role in building and consolidating the democratic regime in Portugal.
The award will be presented to the businessman and former prime minister of Portugal on March 1, at the anniversary session of the University of Coimbra (UC), the higher education institution announced today in a press release sent to the Lusa news agency.
“Rare are the figures with such a wide-ranging CV as our prize-winner in the construction and consolidation of the democratic regime, which this year celebrates the 50th anniversary of April 25, 1974,” said the rector of the UC, Amílcar Falcão.
According to the rector, who chairs the jury for the University of Coimbra Prize, Pinto Balsemão had a life dedicated “to the public cause” and played “a fundamental role in promoting freedom of the press, an essential condition for a democratic society – and a cause that is important to highlight today, when we see it threatened by a serious crisis in several national ‘media'”.
With the Impresa group, Francisco Pinto Balsemão gave “voice” (the theme of this year’s UC Cultural Week) to “Portuguese society and to issues that others would prefer to silence,” said Amílcar Falcão.
For the president of Banco Santander (which sponsors the award), Pedro Castro e Almeida, the winner has “a remarkable career in every respect, as a businessman, journalist and political leader, with an exemplary contribution to democracy and freedom of the press”.
Francisco Pinto Balsemão is the founder and chairman of the Impresa media group, which owns, among other things, the SIC television channel and the Expresso weekly newspaper.
Before April 25, he was a member of parliament for the so-called liberal wing and, after the Carnation Revolution, he founded the PSD and was prime minister between 1981 and 1983.
He has been a member of the Council of State since 2005.
The UC Prize, worth 15,000 euros, was established in 2004 and is intended to annually distinguish a personality of Portuguese nationality “with an unequivocal and recognized contribution in their professional field”.
The prize will be used to develop “work in an area to be defined with the contribution of the winner”, the UC said.
