The European Union (EU) will have to take on an increasingly active geopolitical role, because there are no empty spaces in politics. If there are empty spaces, they will be occupied by other actors whose actions are not moderated by our set of values”. Despite the conflict, “we must not forget about dialogue and negotiations. This can only end like this,” he says.
As for joining the EU, Isabel Santos asks for calm. “A series of reforms must always be implemented internally so that countries can meet the Copenhagen criteria [que definem a adesão]he recalls, later emphasizing: “Ukraine will have to go through its process up to accession. It is not an easy process, it takes time”.
In Portugal, Isabel Santos spoke before a series of visits to sites where European funds were used, and between meetings related to the European Media Freedom Act (an initiative aimed at protecting and promoting media pluralism and independence in the EU). guarantees) with the DN in a hotel in Lisbon. The MEP is one of nine elected by the PS in 2019, in the last European elections.
In the European Parliament, Isabel Santos is a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs or the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, among others.
The day of the MEP is therefore “very intense”. “As we know, community-level decisions are made by consensus. This requires a lot of deliberation,” he explains. Compared to the Assembly of the Republic (where Isabel Santos was also a deputy), “the work is more intense”, with plenary sessions, working group meetings and, in the case of the socialist MEP, there is still the “attempt to contact people”, to bring politics closer. In this particular case, “It is not only Portuguese citizens, there are also other nationalities who often come to express doubts” about the issues Isabel Santos works on, especially human rights.
More doors, fewer walls
And precisely for Human Rights, the conversation with the MEP continues, focusing on the people who try to reach Europe every day in search of a better life and opportunity.
While migrants continue to die in the Mediterranean Sea (225 people have already died crossing to Europe in the first months of the year. The latest shipwreck, on February 26, caused at least 62 deaths). But Isabel Santos refuses to use the term ‘crisis’ and prefers to speak of a ‘migration problem’ or ‘migration movements’. “When 1.5 million people entered our borders in 2015, we started talking about a migration crisis. That was not true, because when the war [na Ucrânia] broke out, almost 8 million people came in and no one spoke of a crisis,” he explains.
“Right now we need to have a migration policy based on opening humanitarian corridors for asylum seekers and refugees,” said the MEP. Recalling that there are “stories, especially made by the extreme right” that sow “fear of the other”, Isabel Santos believes that this attitude “is not positive, neither for the Union, nor for those who come”. So there is “a European solidarity that needs to be strengthened and an in-depth analysis of how we project our future as a Union”.
Isabel Santos lists several examples of Member States that are beginning to experience an aging population and with it a decline in the number of people of working age, and points to the case of Portugal, which could lose around two million people of working age . Germany, he says, could lose about 11 million. Looking at this data, “we have no reason to build walls or close doors, denying the possibility of a dignified and safe life to those who seek it on European soil,” says the MEP. In this case, the Portuguese example – where the government facilitates the entry of CPLP people looking for work here – is a good starting point that the official believes could be replicated at the community level.
And the future?
What worries Isabel Santos about the coming period?
On the one hand, a project in which she is most involved, “the transition of the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction, which will become the EU Drugs Agency”. In addition, the MEP admits that there are “great concerns” about the war in Ukraine, and that therefore “solidarity needs to be further deepened”. And finally “ensuring the future, for a fair ecological and digital transition, which should not be forgotten despite the emergency”.
Source: DN
