The President of the Republic considered this Wednesday that António Guterres has managed to “keep the ball in play” at the United Nations, which in his opinion is “a miracle”, and insisted on the need to reform this organization.
“To drop the United Nations is to abandon the only place where everyone can meet. If they lose it, what will they replace it with? Nothing,” defended Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, before journalists in New York.
According to the head of state, “it is a miracle what Engineer Guterres has done” as Secretary General of the United Nations, “which is to keep the ball in play, promoting what is convergence”, conditioned by the “veto of some members of the Security Council”.
In his opinion, Guterres has sought “not to let the fabric of the organization tear”, putting on the agenda issues such as “the climate, the future, the situation of women, the protection of minorities, migrations, children , social transformations”. , science and technology” and seeking to “intervene when possible in the war part, which is the most difficult.”
While Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was speaking, at the entrance to Portugal’s permanent mission to the United Nations, sirens sounded as delegations from member countries passed by, which led him to confirm that, despite everything, “multilateralism is alive.” “.
For the President of the Republic, “the big question in the coming years” is whether world leaders will be able to “reform the United Nations, make it more operational” and “reform financial institutions so that rich countries are not left without more rich and the poor getting poorer.”
In his speech on Tuesday, the first day of the annual general debate between Heads of State and Government of the 193 member countries of the United Nations, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa affirmed that “it is time to comply” with these reforms, asking to move from words to action. action.
Based on the reactions of other world leaders, the head of state was convinced that they listened to him and seemed to have agreed: “Now, if in addition to listening and agreeing, if they are capable and willing and take steps in that direction, that is my question”.
“Maybe, I hope, they have realized that it is for the good of all. And when it is for the good of all, it is good to make an effort to change what you have already realized cannot be done. II’ We have already heard that the United Nations has been obsolete for decades,” he added.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stressed that the future of the United Nations also depends on the next national elections: “There are American presidential elections, there are European elections, there are presidential elections in several countries around the world and, therefore, the most internal politics come into play. late”.
In the last three days spent at the United Nations, in addition to speaking at the 78th session of the General Assembly, the head of State spoke at summits on sustainable development and climate, leaving a message about the responsibility of politicians towards the populations. and in an open debate of the Security Council in which Portugal reiterated its support for Ukraine against the invasion of the Russian Federation.
Regarding this last debate, the President of the Republic attributed China’s attempt to “appear neutral” and identified Russia’s position as “very defensive”, in a context in which “the overwhelming majority was – as expected – since the numerous resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, together with Ukraine.
Source: TSF
