Minister of Justice, this will most probably be the last public act in which I participate with Your Excellency as President of the Association of Portuguese Judges, after 3 years and 8 months of institutional relationship. Therefore, in addition to thanking you for your presence, I must express a word of appreciation for the always correct, loyal and considerate manner in which you have dialogued with us, even when we did not agree and needed to disagree.

Mr. Dean of the Lisbon School of the Law Faculty of Universidade Católica, almost 40 years after I began the university studies that would lead me to the profession of judge, I take this opportunity to praise the academics who, in the scientific study and training of legal professions, make an essential contribution to the deepening of a culture of respect for the values of the rule of law.

Madam Vice-President of MEDEL - an institution that brings together 24 associations from 16 countries and represents more than 18,000 magistrates throughout Europe - I would like to pay a sincere tribute to you and all of MEDEL’s leaders, past and present, for your sense of service, your spirit of solidarity, your commitment to democracy and for the much you have done to defend justice and European magistrates.

Mr President of the Union of Public Prosecutors, although we come from different sections of magistrate profession, with distinct functions in the administration of justice, it is often up to us, in these temporary garments of “trade unionists” that we are now wearing, to say what needs to be said when many would prefer us to keep quiet, to speak loudly and forcefully to those who do not want to hear us, to demand what should be given to justice without favour and even to bear deeply unfair criticism. We are used to it, and we are uncompromising. In your person, I praise the work of the institution herein represented, in defence of a Public Prosecutor’s Office that is strong, prestigious, autonomous from political power and effective in communication and in action.

As we come to the end of this day and a half of debate, and being a representative of one of the Portuguese magistrates’ associations that is part of MEDEL and helped organise this conference, I can only say thank you.

Thank you to Universidade Católica, with a special note to Professor Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque, for welcoming us here so warmly;

Thank you to the national and foreign speakers, from the courts, from the universities and from politics, for the quality of your speeches;

Thank you to all those who attended the proceedings, here in this room or remotely by videoconference, for your interest in an issue that is so vital to the future of the people of Europe.

However, I will not end without three notes that remain in my memory:

The first, on the vices that are hidden in realities that we all hold to be virtuous;

The second, and corresponding to the first, on the virtues that can be found in realities that many consider to be vicious;

And the third, on the lesson that remains from all this: as in the story of King Frederick II of Prussia and the miller of Sanssouci in Europe, there are still judges and courts in Luxembourg.

The vices of virtue of which I spoke remind us that the values of the rule of law are neither consensual nor irreversible, even in our European area of virtuous democracy. As the recent examples of Hungary and Poland show us, democracy contains within itself destructive vices that can corrode it from within.

We have known this before, from other moments in history, but now we are once again being confronted with this harsh reality: free and democratic elections can also enable people to elect authoritarian governments that are enemies of democracy and freedoms.

We must not forget this in each of our countries. Everywhere there are aspiring dictators disguised as democrats, waiting for the opportunity to seize power.

When speaking of the vices of virtue, I am referring to the irreplaceable role of national and international magistrates’ associations in the fight for democracy that is taking place in Europe.

I do not know what it is like in your countries, dear colleagues from MEDEL and foreign guests, but here in Portugal there are many people who demonise judicial associations, as if they were an illegitimate excrescence, foreign to sovereignty and democratic life; as if they were a subversive instrument for the judiciary to take political power by storm.

These people have never spent a minute thinking about a paradox that renders their thesis completely illogical: why is it that there is not a single democracy in the world without free and intervening judicial associations and, on the contrary, all authoritarian regimes fiercely pursue these associations?

Well, if there were any doubt, recent times have shown the virtues of these associations that many consider vicious.

Who has been at the forefront, from the very first moment, in publicly denouncing the attacks on the independence of the judiciary, not only in Poland but also in other countries?

Who has been mobilising to draw the attention and consciences of academics, democratic politicians, civil society organisations and public opinion?

Who has not tired of knocking on the door of the European political institutions, asking for the formal control mechanisms that are currently in place to be activated?

This work for the benefit of judicial independence and the rule of law has come first and foremost from national and international associations of magistrates, namely MEDEL and the European Association of Judges.

Let this be a lesson to those who do not believe in our work.

One final note on the fact that the Court of Justice of the European Union has once again been called upon to play a decisive role in the reconfiguration process of European “constitutionalism”, ensuring compliance with the structural principles of the European Union.

Issues which seemed to be countries’ internal affairs are, after all, of interest to the European Union and all the Member States.

This is good news for the vitality of the European project and bad news for the illiberal populism impulses that, in various countries, are planning to dismantle guarantees of the rule of law and judicial independence.

Thus, here is a new limit that will condition the internal processes of reform of justice in each of the countries of the European Union. It is no longer enough to obey the Constitutions or the internal laws. It is no longer enough to invoke the legitimacy of the democratic vote. It is also necessary to comply with the fundamental principles established in the treaties to become a member of the European Union, which each State freely committed itself to when it decided to join.

A safe return to your countries, in good health, encouragement and hope for better days.

Thank you.