Regionalization is Complying with the Constitution

In the 21st century, Portugal continues to postpone fulfilling one of the most important objectives of its Constitution: the creation of administrative regions. What should have been a structural basis for our plural democracy has, over the course of almost five decades, been the victim of successive postponements, political hesitations and failed commitments. There has never really been a serious, open and consistent discussion about regionalisation. The topic has been systematically suppressed, kept off the public agenda, treated as taboo. And the reason is simple: there is a tacit desire on the part of successive central governments to keep everything as it is.

In fact, we are currently one of the most centralized countries in Europe, with an excessive concentration of political and administrative power in Lisbon. Strategic areas such as education, health, mobility and security continue to be heavily centralized, depriving regions of room for maneuver and making public policies tailored to local specificities unfeasible. The result is clear to see: glaring asymmetries between the coast and the interior, between cities and low-density territories, between an overburdened capital and a country that is progressively forgotten.

In a time of multiple and interdependent challenges — digital transition, climate change, demographic crisis, green reindustrialization, population aging, geopolitical instability — a profound reflection on the architecture of the State is required. At the same time, we are witnessing a worrying erosion of democracy: worn-out institutions, spreading civic deserts, citizens progressively distanced from decision-making centers and a political representation that has lost the capacity to generate responses with vision, depth and a sense of the future.

Politics has become a prisoner of immediate logic: of the easy phrase that fills the screen, of the soundbite that goes viral, of the noise that disguises the void. Simplistic solutions are in fashion — because they are easy to repeat, easy to share, but dangerously innocuous. They do not address the roots of problems, do not transform realities, do not build collective meaning. We live in a time when democracy risks becoming a soulless ritual — and that is why we need a tear, not a patch. The courage to reform what does not work. A State that listens out of principle, and not out of convenience.

A State that recognizes that development is built on the ground — where people live, work, struggle and dream. That sees geographic and social diversity as a strength, not as a problem to be managed. That has the courage to trust communities, to value local knowledge and to transfer skills with resources and legitimacy. At a time when it is urgent to revitalize democracy from within, regionalization represents an opportunity to renew the pact between the State and its citizens — with greater proximity, more participation and more justice.

For decades, we have disguised inertia with timid reforms. We called “decentralization” what were merely transfers of responsibilities, without resources or vision. Municipalities were called upon to assume new responsibilities without adequate resources, transforming local autonomy into a kind of simulacrum that serves more to relieve central government of its responsibilities than to empower local government. Meanwhile, the regions continued to be ignored, as if the country were uniform, when it is profoundly diverse.

The data doesn't lie:

Portugal has one of the lowest rates of regional and local public expenditure in Europe: only 12.6% of national public expenditure is carried out at local level, when the European average is 33.4%;

Only 5.6% of national GDP is implemented by subnational levels of government, well below the 15.5% average for the European Union.

We are therefore faced with a model that stifles initiative, paralyses innovation and compromises territorial equity. And the worst thing is that the country seems to have become accustomed to this blockage. It seems to have internalised the idea that this is how things are. But it doesn’t have to be. We can — and must — do things differently.

According to the latest study by IPPS/Iscte, “What do the Portuguese think about 2025 – Decentralization, deconcentration and regionalization”, published in May 2025, the Portuguese are ready for this step. And this is not just an impression — it is statistical evidence that once and for all dismantles the myth of popular apathy towards regionalization:

71% want to reopen the debate on the creation of administrative regions;

75% argue that this decision should be taken by referendum;

57% advocate the direct election of regional presidents; 53% demand more powers for local authorities and future regions.

The signal is unequivocal: civil society is ahead of the political class. There is a real country that demands to be heard, a citizen will that demands structure, scale and ambition. All that is missing is for political power to break with the inertia that has taken hold and finally rise to the occasion.

It is unacceptable to continue to think about Portugal from the top down, from the inside out, from Lisbon to the rest. The regions have talent, concrete solutions and strategic vision — they just lack institutional recognition that would give them back the decision-making capacity and the means to act. The absence of an intermediate level prevents coordinated governance and undermines the State's ability to respond effectively to local realities.

In 2026, it will be 50 years since regionalisation was enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic. Fifty years of postponed promises, empty speeches and democratic sovereignty cut short in its most basic exercise: the right of communities to decide their own destiny. The time has come to break with inaction and give substance to the constitutional principle that has been so often proclaimed but never fulfilled. Regionalisation does not mean dividing the country — it means respecting its diversity. It does not mean fragmenting the State — it means rebuilding trust in the collective project that unites us.

Regionalization is the decisive test of our democratic maturity. Either we choose to perpetuate the comfort of centralism, at the cost of stagnation and the abandonment of vast territories, or we have the courage to accept that true democracy is not achieved through the centralization of power — it is achieved where people live, where the challenges are real and where citizens demand a voice. It is time to return the country to its regions. It is time to finally fulfill the promise of democracy.