The leader of the Portuguese PS, António Costa, said this Saturday at the congress of the European Socialist Party (PES) in Berlin that the European Union has faced “consecutive crises in the last 15 years” and must work on a “permanent solution” at the problems.
António Costa participates this Saturday in the second and last day of the PSE congress, with the motto “With courage. For Europe”. The meeting’s agenda is the debate on the new challenges facing Europe, with the participation of various party leaders, commissioners and European prime ministers.
“We have faced consecutive crises in the last 15 years, financial crises, climate crises, pandemic crises, now war. This means that we need a permanent and stable mechanism to deal with and resolve these crises,” the prime minister stressed, adding: “There is always a crisis waiting for us.”
The general secretary of the PS underlined that it is necessary to “learn from previous crises”, giving some examples from which one can learn.
“10 years ago, we did not do well during the financial crisis, when we left each member state to its own devices and built a policy based on austerity. But we did well in the fight against the Covid-19 crisis, not only in the joint demand for vaccines, but because, this time, we are not acting guided by austerity, but by solidarity. We have found an answer to a common problem”, he stressed.
António Costa participated in the first panel “Leading Europe through change”, together with Pedro Sánchez, leader of the PSOE and President of the Spanish Government, Robert Abela, leader of the Labor Party, the President of the Government of Malta and Magdalena Andersson, leader of the Social Democratic Party and Prime Minister of Sweden.
Asked about the priority in combating the climate crisis during the war in Ukraine, António Costa stressed that this is the time to accelerate the energy transition, advocating greater investment in renewable energies to free dependence on Russia.
“We need to build interconnections between all our states to be able to share the best energy”, without directly mentioning the “Midcat” project, a gas pipeline that connects the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe through the Pyrenees, supported by Germany, Portugal and Spain , but without the green light from France.
“If we want to win this energy transition, we have to have the support of the people. If we want to stop the growth of populism, we have to deal with energy prices and the climate crisis,” he stressed.
Costa began his speech at the panel by answering a question about the EU accession candidate status granted to Ukraine and Moldova in June this year. The general secretary of the PS stressed that it is necessary to “seriously consider” the issue of enlargement so that “the great expectations created in these countries are not frustrated.”
The general secretary of the PS attended the opening of the PSE congress, and the speech of its new president, Stefan Löfven, seated in the front row, together with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
Costa left a message, also repeated by the other members of the panel, pointing out the urgency of not letting Putin win the war.
“We continue to support Ukraine, economically, humanitarianally and militarily. This must continue (…) We must fully support the efforts of António Guterres and the United Nations to resolve the food crisis. The whole world is suffering from this war and we are to show solidarity,” he said.
The Socialist Party is represented in the PSE Congress by a delegation that, in addition to the Secretary General, includes the Deputy Secretary General, João Torres, the parliamentary leader, Eurico Brilhante Dias, the National Secretary for International Relations, Jamila Madeira, the secretary General of the JS, Miguel Costa Matos, the president of the MS-ID, Elza Pais, the leader, Edite Estrela, the vice-president of the PSE, Francisco André, and the president of the Delegation of Portuguese Socialists to the European Parliament, Maria Manuel Leitao Marques.
*Updated at 11:38 am
Source: TSF
