Lisbon, Oct. 23, 2025 (Lusa) – The president of Portugal on Thursday praised Francisco Pinto Balsemão’s contribution to freedom and democracy, in a speech at the mass before the funeral of the former prime minister, held at the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon.

In his speech, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa remembered the chairman of the Impresa group as a visionary, fighter and optimist, “always believing in tomorrow”, with “unshakeable hope and faith”.

“That’s how it was, for more than six decades, in a closed Portugal, as well as in a Portugal that he helped open up to freedom and democracy,” he said.

According to the head of state, this happened “sometimes so naturally that their steps didn’t seem to be changing Portugal, but they were”.

“They changed and changed the lives of others, the lives of all of us. He was never an island; he always wanted to fulfil himself for others and with others. And that, which was a lot, which was everything, Portugal will never forget,” the president added.

Former Prime Minister Francisco Pinto Balsemão, founder and number one militant of the PSD, of which he was also president, died on Tuesday aged 88.

Today, at the funeral mass for Balsemão, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke after a musical moment in which Camané sang the fado “Abandono”.

 The president described Balsemão as a visionary, who dedicated himself “to doing for others and with others” and knew how to “anticipate times and ways, break down barriers, open horizons, build futures with inventiveness and verve”, as a fighter, who acted “with courage and a taste for risk”, and an optimist, “always believing in tomorrow”.

Francisco Pinto Balsemão was chairman of the Impresa media group, which includes Expresso, which he founded during the dictatorship in 1973, and SIC, Portugal’s first private television channel, created in 1992.

In 1974, after the 25 April Revolution, he founded, with Francisco Sá Carneiro and Magalhães Mota, the Popular Democratic Party (PPD), later the Social Democratic Party (PSD).

After Francisco Sá Carneiro’s death, Balsemão served as president of the PSD from 1980 to 1983 and headed the AD’s 7th and 8th constitutional governments from 1981 to 1983.

He was a member of the Council of State, the political body that consults the President of the Republic.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was in Expresso with Balsemão, with whom he also began his political career in the PPD, now the PSD, and with whom he served in government.

In the 8th government, the second headed by Francisco Balsemão, the now Head of State first served as Secretary of State for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and then as Minister for Parliamentary Affairs.

IEL // JPS

Lusa/Fim