President Marcelo gave his last Portugal Day speech in the Algarve town of Lagos
The official Portugal Day celebrations took place this week in the western Algarve town of Lagos, welcoming top political figures including Prime Minister Luís Montenegro and President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who gave his final Portugal Day speech as head of state.
Portugal Day, celebrated every June 10, is the national day of Portugal and marks the death in 1580 of Luís de Camões, Portugal’s greatest poet and author of Os Lusíadas, an epic poem celebrating Portuguese history and the Age of Discoveries.
The day honours Portuguese heritage, culture, and national pride. But at a time when ultra-nationalism and anti-immigration ideologies are gaining steam across Europe and throughout the world, Marcelo used his final Portugal Day speech as president to highlight the rich mix of peoples who shaped Portugal’s identity – from the Moors and Phoenicians to the Greeks and Romans.
“We are Portuguese because we are universal, and we are universal because we are Portuguese,” the 76-year-old president said, insisting that “no one can claim to be purer or more Portuguese than another.”
Lagos, chosen as the symbolic site for the celebrations, was praised by the president as the historic launching point for the Age of Discoveries – the era when Portuguese explorers crossed oceans and opened new worlds.
But Marcelo didn’t just recall victories; he also reminded everyone to acknowledge past mistakes and lost opportunities across continents and seas. “More than remembering, we must reinvent ourselves,” he said, calling on the nation to care better for its people, attract more residents, and nurture ties with emigrants living abroad.
During the event, former President General Ramalho Eanes – the first to be democratically elected in 1976 following Portugal’s Carnation Revolution in 1974 – was awarded the Grand Collar of the Military Order of Avis in recognition of the military’s vital role in Portugal’s independence.
The day’s tributes also included a moment of remembrance on Avenida dos Descobrimentos in Lagos in honour of those who died for their homeland.
This was the first time during his run as president that Marcelo chose the Algarve to celebrate Portugal Day, having already honoured the day in Lisbon, Porto, Ponta Delgada, Portalegre, Funchal, Braga, Peso da Régua and, last year, in three districts of the Leiria region affected by the 2017 fires – Pedrógão Grande, Figueiró dos Vinhos and Castanheira de Pera – and in Coimbra.
Throughout his two presidential terms, Portugal Day has also been celebrated abroad, with émigré communities, in a model the president established when he took office in 2016, in conjunction with the then Prime Minister, António Costa, and which has been continued by Luís Montenegro.
Indeed, Marcelo and Luís Montenegro also joined the Portuguese community celebrations in Stuttgart over the weekend and witnessed Portugal’s thrilling victory over Spain in the Nations League final in Munich (see story on page 39), rounding off a week of national pride.
