The president of the republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, said on Wednesday that the African continent is not a priority for Europe and regretted that this had happened.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, speaking at the closing ceremony of the Eurafrican Forum, which has been running since Tuesday and ended this Wednesday, in Carcavelos, on the outskirts of Lisbon, said Europe is aging, while Africa’s population is growing, “but with poverty and circumstances apparently not known, perceived and understood by many Europeans”.
“Let’s be honest: of course we can speak the many millions for Africa and we can even say that most of them are in line with the targets set by the African Union for 2063, but Africa is not a priority for Europe,” he said. stressed out.
According to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, “part of Europe doesn’t understand Africa” because “there are countries [europeus] who has never had the experience of knowing Africa as it should be”.
“Or they had it, but they have forgotten it,” emphasized the Portuguese president, referring to the fact that the countries of Central and Eastern Europe do not have the relationship experience he called for and, in the case of the countries of Northern Europe, they had it in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, “but in a way that they don’t recognize that in some of them it’s not a priority for part of their public opinion,” he added.
While Southern European countries “know [África] better”, but the present time marks the “end of empires”, he opined.
Similar to what is happening in Portugal, he said, “there has remained a way of looking at Africa that is Eurocentric, which does not accept that the African point of view is not the European point of view”.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who spoke at the last panel of the Eurafrica Forum, in the “Dialogue between Presidents”, which also included the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who is on an official visit to Portugal, stressed that the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change have accentuated this lack of knowledge.
“It’s easy to talk about one world, but making it a priority is not the same thing,” he stressed.
In addition, the war in Ukraine “has made Europe more Eurocentric, forgetting about the rest of the world and that the war is global and encompasses all superpowers and emerging powers”.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa then referred to what he called the “perception problem” of European public opinion, since “populist movements [que se transformam] in organic, nationalist and xenophobic movements are growing in many countries of Europe”, the effect of which is the non-acceptance of cultural differences.
“It’s a shame and it could be a big mistake [África] not be a priority,” he added.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa defended the need not to miss this opportunity to support Africa, as it is “fundamental” to be on the continent “to create conditions for education, better living conditions and investment security”.
“We have very little time from now until the end of the war and the post-war period to realize that we cannot let this unique opportunity pass us by. We cannot. Europe cannot do that,” the head of state reiterated, noting that some European countries recognize the importance of changing their policies, but regret the slowness with which they do so and the time it takes to change attitudes.
Marcelo stressed the need for “a stronger political will at European level”.
“It means that the main European states have to agree to this. They agree when it comes to their investment in some of their companies in the state. But I don’t know if it’s enough. We want more. This partnership has to become that is why this kind of dialogue is so important,” he said, referring to the Euro-African dialogue.
Source: DN
