Portuguese MEPs João Pimenta Lopes and Nuno Melo agreed on the need to be cautious regarding Ukraine’s accession, due to its implications for the distribution of community funds and to ensure that the process is equal for all countries.
The convergence between the communist MEP (belonging to the left political group) and the centrist Nuno Melo (of the European People’s Party) emerged during a video conference debate after the socialist Pedro Marques (Socials and Democrats) said that the European Union (EU) is opposite was, for example, with the United States, which unanimously supported Ukraine among the 27 and wanted to open the “road to membership” for the political-economic bloc.
João Pimenta Lopes opined that there are “contradictory views” on the enlargement of the European Union and that Ukraine is “a country as big as Poland”.
The situation is one of “scarcity and inadequacy of resources,” especially community funds that are “becoming increasingly scarce” and harming the development of countries like Portugal, the communist MP added.
According to Pimenta Lopes, the current integration of Ukraine would lead to “an even greater division of the pie that is already too short.”
The CDS-PP chairman argued that the accession of the country invaded by Russia a year and a half ago “cannot be a process based on emotional foundations.”
‘The criteria are objective, they are those of Copenhagen [estabelecidos em 1993 e que todos os países candidatos têm de cumprir]. It cannot be the circumstance of a war that can change criteria that apply to everyone and for Ukraine to join it is necessary to verify these assumptions.”added the Christian Democrat MEP.
Socialist Pedro Marques, former Minister of Planning and Infrastructure, added that the 27 should go further in the discussion on the future of the EU and look at “critical issues such as the pandemic and the war in Ukraine”, which not only unity among all countries of the bloc, but they also increased the pressure on everyone.
“After we create the single currency, we must create a single, permanent budget, instead of jumping from crisis to crisis with a lack of resources”he advocated, adding that when there is a hasty solution to a problem, the resources channeled to others “are no longer available.”
However, Pedro Marques warned against this “There are countries that use the sanctions process as real blackmail against other countries” and that unanimity is not always easy.
At this point, João Pimenta Lopes said that he heard “with some surprise” what the socialist calls forr “sanctions to claim that others use them to blackmail, while the sanctions themselves are blackmail” towards the targeted countries.
The communist said the conflict in Ukraine “should not have started” and that “it is urgent to find a way” for a “negotiated political” solution.
Pedro Marques noted that the PCP MEP condemned the war but continues without condemning the aggressor, “that is Vladimir Putin”, which provoked a response from the communist accusing the socialist of repeating stories “of right and extreme right”.
Source: DN
