The prime minister announced this Friday that the European Council had reached an agreement on the establishment of a permanent support mechanism for Ukraine and warned of Putin’s “level of risk” despite apparent political weakening.
“A very important part of the Council conclusions is the establishment of a permanent support mechanism for Ukraine”said António Costa at a press conference at the end of the two-day European summit in Brussels.
The prime minister defended that European Union (EU) member states should aim “to ensure that Ukraine has the conditions to win a just and lasting peace”.
Regarding the meeting between the 27 and the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, at the start of the summit, on Thursday, António Costa said that “some amount of information was shared, but no clearer indication” about the uprising of Wagner’s mercenaries last Saturday.
However, there is “in fact a sign of weakening leadership” from Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
“We’ll see what happens in the future […]but the level of danger that [Putin] already revealed is enough for us to worry about,” completed the head of the Portuguese executive.
The isolation of Hungary and Poland in an expected position in terms of migration
The prime minister also highlighted the “isolation” of Hungary and Poland in light of the European Union’s migration issue after those countries blocked conclusions at the European Council, but said he was not surprised.
“I was not disappointed because we are not surprised. Poland and Hungary are known to have very different and increasingly isolated positions in the Council,” said António Costa.
Speaking to Portuguese journalists in Brussels, after a European Council without a conclusive text on the reform of European migration rules, given the Polish-Hungarian blockade, the head of government pointed out that “despite having seen a general agreement on what is proposed, it was not possible […] have conclusions”.
Despite this, “there was a very broad consensus on migration policies and support for countries of origin among most Member States”, despite the “dissonant positions of Poland and Hungary”, António Costa stressed.
Pointing out that these two countries “hoped that the new governments had joined” their divergent position on the migration issue, namely Italy, the Portuguese head of government added that “what is made explicit is that Poland and Hungary have different understandings of the EU regulations”.
For António Costa, Warsaw and Budapest have a “completely wrong view of European values and how Europe should relate to the world”.
This, he argued, is a “vision that it is possible to imagine a world in which there are no migrations”, but to think that this is possible is like thinking that you can “eliminate the wind”.
“We are not going to eliminate, we have to save it,” concluded António Costa.
Hungary and Poland challenge the qualified majority rule on migration policy, as allowed by the treaties, I prefer to defend unanimity to block or continue certain measures, in the context of solidarity measures, relocation and resettlement
Discussion on EU enlargement “will be more formal”
The prime minister took part in an informal meeting with nine other European leaders in the morning about the enlargement of the European Union to other countries and defended that the “current institutional and budgetary architecture” complicates this process.
“The EU must now think and prepare to understand what it needs to change to welcome not only Ukraine, but also Moldova, the countries of the Western Balkans,” said António Costa.
At the start of today’s summit, the Portuguese Prime Minister met informally with the leaders of Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden in a city center hotel to discuss EU enlargement.
For the prime minister, “with the current institutional and budgetary architecture, the European Union would not be a good place to host a country that wants to join”.
“If we want and need to meet the expectations raised, the EU must adapt in advance,” said the head of the Portuguese executive.
António Costa said this discussion will “continue in a more formal way” over the next six months, during Spain’s presidency of the Council of the European Union, which starts on Saturday.
On Thursday morning, PSD president Luís Montenegro believed news of António Costa’s hypothetical appointment to a European post was a “fait divers” to distract public opinion from the lack of solutions to the country’s problems.
Asked about Luís Montenegro’s statements, the prime minister agreed that “it is a ‘fait divers'”.
“You know very well that the source is not the PS. But how many times do I have to answer the same question? I’m not sure what is not yet understood about that answer,” added the general secretary of the PS.
Journalists asked if the issue had been raised with other European leaders, but the prime minister replied only that he did not reveal the content of the talks with EU heads of state or government.
Source: DN
