The President of the Republic announced that the 18th meeting of the Arraiolos Group, which annually brings together the non-executive heads of state of the European Union, will take place on October 5 and 6 next year, in Porto.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was speaking to the media at the end of the 17th meeting of the Arraiolos Group, which brought together twelve non-executive heads of state of the European Union in Malta.
Although it had already been decided that the next meeting of this Group would be in Portugal – as a way of commemorating the 20th anniversary of the initiative launched in 2003 in the Alentejo town of Arraiolos by the then President of the Republic Jorge Sampaio – the dates and the Location.
The meeting will thus coincide, in part, with the celebrations of the anniversary of the Establishment of the Republic in Portugal.
“We will celebrate 20 years of this Group and we will do it on October 5 and 6, in Porto, in the north of Portugal. At that time, we hope to do it without a pandemic, without a war. A war ended with a victory for justice, for international law, for human rights, for democracy, for freedom and for democracy,” he said, referring to the military offensive launched by Russia against Ukraine.
In a balance of the meeting this Thursday, the Portuguese head of state considered it “very successful” and revealing the importance of the Arraiolos Group.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa especially welcomed the unity of the heads of state present in supporting Ukraine and in the European response to the consequences of the war, both in social, economic and financial terms.
“We are all aware of the suffering of the Ukrainian people, but we are united to face the costs of war in our societies,” he said.
In addition to the war in Ukraine, the heads of state represented in the Arraiolos Group shared their solidarity with the struggle of women in Iran for their human rights.
“We talk about all the major conflicts around the world. Everyone is connected, we share the vision that European values are the reason for our unity and not just geostrategic reasons”, he said.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stressed that “the rule of law, democracy, freedom” are the reasons why the European Union fights against the Russian invasion.
The Portuguese President of the Republic was one of the 12 heads of state who made statements to the press (in English) at the end of the Arraiolos Group meeting, at a time without the right to be questioned by the media.
All the heads of state present condemned the invasion of Ukraine and some, like the president of Poland, even called for more action against Russia.
“We can and must do more,” defended Andrzej Duda.
The need for the EU to have energy autonomy was also highlighted by various heads of state, including the German.
“We have to use the full potential to speed up the energy transformation, it is not just a climate imperative, but a security policy at the same time,” Frank-Walter Steinmeier stressed.
For his part, the Italian president, Sergio Mattarella, defended the need for a common European defense policy, complementary to that of NATO.
Throughout the day, the 17th meeting of the Arraiolos Group was held at the Mediterranean Conference Center in La Valletta.
The work began around 11:00 a.m., after the traditional family photo, with the first working session dedicated to assessing the effectiveness of the EU as a global actor “in the face of imminent threats, particularly in the neighborhoods of the south and the East”.
In the afternoon, the heads of state discussed the role of the EU at the center of the ideal of global social justice, in panels closed to the press.
In addition to taking place in a context of war in Europe, after the military offensive launched at the end of February by Russia and which in recent days culminated in a proclamation of the annexation of Ukrainian territories by that country (already considered illegal by several countries) , including Portugal), this informal meeting of non-executive presidents takes place a week and a half after the legislative elections in Italy, with the victory of a right-wing and far-right coalition.
In recent years, the Arraiolos Group has brought together heads of state from 15 EU countries (it started with six in 2003), all with non-executive powers: Italy, Bulgaria, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Croatia, Latvia, Hungary, Malta, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Finland.
However, and for the first time, the meeting was attended by Slovakia, whose president, Zuzana Caputova, expressed her country’s intention to join this group. The presidents of Austria and Finland were not in Malta and, contrary to initial expectations, the heads of state of Croatia and Bulgaria were not there either, so 12 heads of state participated in the meeting.
Source: TSF
