“I myself, and the Prime Minister more emphatically, refer to the step Equatorial Guinea has taken with regard to the reception [do fim] of the death penalty, a decisive obstacle that has existed since 2013, now ten years ago, on this path to integration,” said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa at the last joint press conference with the head of government, António Costa, of the CPLP Summit , which took place today in São Tomé.
The roadmap for the integration of Equatorial Guinea “is called up in the Sao Tome and Principe Declaration and means that it is a slow process that has led to this good result”, the Portuguese head of state admitted, stressing that at the same time “there was a accelerating the Portuguese learning process”.
Equatorial Guinea is a former Spanish colony that made Portuguese its official language in 2014 and committed to teaching the language and ending the death penalty, conditions of entry into the CPLP, established in 2014.
On Saturday, Equatorial Guinea’s foreign minister told Lusa that the country wanted the presidency of the organization, but Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa recalled today that a commitment had already been made to that title at the summit two years ago in Luanda. to give. to Bissau.
As for the future and the possibility that a country accused of violating human rights and disrespecting the opposition will assume the presidency of the CPLP, the Portuguese head of state said everything will depend on the context.
“We cannot replace the expected rotation between states or the sovereign deliberation of the next summit,” he said.
At the next summit, in Bissau, “it is completely normal that countries as different as, for example, Equatorial Guinea, East Timor or any other state can submit candidates within two years, which will be evaluated at that time according to the existing rotation . criteria and in function of the existing concrete circumstances”, says Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
The CPLP, which consists of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe and East Timor, today holds the 14th Conference of Heads of State and Government in Sao Tome and Principe. under the motto “Youth and Sustainability”.
Source: DN
