Illegal, unfair, immoral, a “shocking mistake of the Russian Federation”, to which the European Union responded “with solidarity, unity and vision for the future”. These are the words of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on the war in Ukraine, in his speech this Wednesday at the European Parliament’s formal session in Strasbourg. Therefore, he said, the European Union must try with greater urgency to guarantee “a just and legal peace” in the conflict.
In a speech lasting more than ten minutes (which ended with a standing ovation from the MEPs present), the President of the Republic also recalled that the war and the pandemic make the reforms to be implemented even more urgent, and that, “in the emergency”, the major European issues were put in the background.
For the head of state, the European Union has seven other things besides peace in Ukraine: exiting the post-war period “as an effective world power”; the expansion [de Estados-membros”; a recuperação “da economia europeia”; o futuro da governação comunitária; a relação “com outros continentes”; a transição energética e digital; e a solidariedade geracional.
Depois de, na véspera, ter adiantado que ia focar o discurso nos “desafios da Europa”, o Presidente da República abordou, além do conflito na Ucrânia, os populismos “e os egoísmos” no seio da União Europeia, à semelhança do que já havia feito no dia anterior, numa nota publicada no site da Presidência. “A UE quer ficar fechada sobre si mesma? Não pode esquecer que nos outros continentes que esta guerra tem efeitos globais. Não pode esquecer ou congelar por egoísmos fúteis parcerias e acordos com continentes como a África, a América Latina. Não pode adiar aquilo que a prazo só pode criar problemas com as migrações e o peso da Europa no mundo. Os egoísmos nacionais têm de ceder perante os valores da União Europeia”, frisou.
These issues, one year before the European elections, offer two possible paths for the Union: “One of them, because of the war and the recovery, to manage daily life, wait for the period after” the elections. The other way is “not stopping at various abstract ideas” or “enjoying debates that have nothing to do with the everyday life of Europeans”. “You can only achieve the future by looking at the long term,” he defended.
At the end of the speech, a condemnation: Portugal, the Portuguese and the president himself defend that Europe “does not belong to the heads of state or government, not to party leaders, not to other social leaders” . “They are European men and women,” he concluded.
Source: DN
