“It is necessary to tell the Portuguese men and women that we have reasons to trust our police, we have reasons to trust our public services and we have reasons to say loud and clear that we are a safe country, one of the safest in the world,” he said.

The head of the Government admitted concerns about the increase in some criminal phenomena, such as juvenile delinquency or gang crime, the fight against corruption or international and even domestic drug trafficking, “very much on display, especially in Lisbon and Porto, frightening people too.”

“But we will also not fail to say that one of the biggest competitiveness factors that the country has is being safe, and it is safe because we have qualified people and institutions to be able to guarantee this safety,” he said.

The Prime Minister pointed to security as one of the factors of internal competitiveness, alongside the country's good geopolitical and geostrategic location, “a good qualification of its human resources, a good academy, good researchers, good science, good business projects, quality of life, a very rich natural heritage”.

“It is up to all of us, with the instruments we have, to ensure that we continue to be a safe country and a country that has, in its values, the safeguarding of human dignity, the safeguarding of the rights of women and men who live, work or pass by here”, he said.