Foreign Minister João Gomes Cravinho insisted on Wednesday that this year Portugal will “continue to support Ukraine in its quest for a peace that is just and that strengthens, not weakens, the international order”.
Speaking at the opening session of the 2023 Diplomatic Seminar, an annual event organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MNE) that brings together all Portuguese ambassadors and/or heads of diplomatic missions, Cravinho underlined that in a year that begins “with outlines of great difficulties and disorder in the international system”, Portugal’s choices regarding aid to Ukraine “are clear”.
At the same time, he stated that he wanted the entire MNO “to be mobilized for a careful reading of a rapidly changing world, contributing to the right positioning” of Portugal.
“Caution and a certain amount of pessimism about what could go wrong at the international level can and should be balanced against confidence in the capabilities of our diplomacy to find possible avenues for peace and dialogue,” he defended.
He also stressed that “within the European Union (EU) itself” “transformative times are also being lived”, so that it has no choice but to “transform itself into a geostrategic force” – a transformation for which “three inescapable priorities” have been presented .
The first is “having a clear path for relations with the neighbourhood”, referring to new accessions – which have not existed and are not expected “on the near horizon”, although there are new candidate countries -, and imply “major transformations of internal institutions”, which “also do not appear on the horizon”.
“If it is true that enlargement has become a geostrategic necessity, then it is also true that institutional and financial reforms are an essential factor for that enlargement. Map out that Portugal must contribute,” he stressed.
The second priority for the EU to become a geostrategic power is “Europe’s return to commercial superpower status”.
It is, he continued, “a status we had for decades, but which we have given up due to a lack of strategic vision and the strength of certain interests in different countries”.
“Today we see a great inability to use trade policy to project European interests. What was the jewel in the crown of the European Union’s external relations today represents an anachronistic obstacle in the deepening of relations with countries and regions eager to closer to us”.
For this reason, he considered it urgent to help the European Commission “play its full role, starting with agreements in Latin America, with Chile, Mexico and Mercosur [Mercado Comum do Sul]Now that there is “a new dynamic in Brazil,” he stressed, referring to Lula da Silva’s return to the presidency in that country, adding: “India is another country with which we need to have a macro-strategic vision to break with the domination of micro-interests and micro-ideas”.
The third priority, defended the head of Portuguese diplomacy, is that “the Europe of Defense cannot be postponed”, which “means several things”.
“From the beginning, the promotion of the ability to plan and conduct military activities at European level (…), a process of harmonization of acquisitions, something that only started through the European Defense Agency, [e] the rapid and deep development of an ecosystem of defense industries in the European space, something that is also taking its first steps and that should be adopted as a priority by European governments,” he summed up.
“There are important developments, such as the European warplane project, but we need to greatly expand the range of common activities,” he continued, noting: “All this will cost money, but it will also have economic and scientific returns and, in the context in which we live, we must understand this priority”.
He also stressed that “it is of course important that this process is carried out in synergy with NATO, in complementarity and using the added value of each institution”.
“With regard to these three necessary dynamics in the EU, the link between enlargement and institutional reform, the promotion of an ambitious trade policy and the consolidation of a defense Europe, Portugal has a role to play,” he stressed.
MNC from Portugal and Germany support the effectiveness of sanctions against Russia
The foreign ministers of Portugal and Germany defended that Western sanctions against Russia are effective and that this is becoming increasingly visible and should be enforced along with increased support for Ukraine.
“Russia’s ability to wage war today is much smaller” than at the beginning of the offensive against Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, João Gomes Cravinho assured during a joint press conference with his German counterpart, after both intervened in Semanario Diplomatico. 2023.
The European Union, he added, is “working on yet another package, the 10th, of sanctions against Russia” and will continue aid to Ukraine for as long as necessary, referring specifically to decisive support to help energy infrastructure repair, which had been badly damaged in the Russian attacks in recent months, and to send war material.
The energy supply, which is even more urgent due to sub-zero winter temperatures, “was one of the main focuses at the conference that took place in Paris in December, where it was determined that there will be a specific support mechanism for Ukraine”, starting with seeing of what infrastructure recovery needs.
“But also with the supply of material, such as “batteries, generators and ‘LED’ lamps – more than 50 million of these lamps” – with the aim of reducing energy needs, said the Portuguese minister.
“No matter how many war crimes there are, and attacks against civilians are war crimes (…), there will always be more support for Ukraine,” Gomes Cravinho stressed.
Annalena Baerbock responded to the question about the effectiveness of sanctions by reiterating that everything necessary will be done for Ukraine to defend its territorial integrity, and reiterating the message already left during the intervention before Portuguese diplomats gathered in Lisbon, that Moscow wants to destroy Ukraine. and make living there impossible.
“If there had been no reaction, this would have been the end of the United Nations charter,” said the German minister, who asked for “diplomatic commitment” in addition to economic, humanitarian and military aid.
“Arms delivery is about protecting people and protecting the United Nations Charter,” he stressed.
It is essential to continue military support, also to allow interventions in infrastructure rehabilitation and to prevent further attacks, the heads of diplomacy of Portugal and Germany defended.
This support, they added, is constantly being reviewed, depending on the needs and capacities of member states and their partners, who jointly assess how they can help more effectively.
The diplomatic seminar is an annual gathering of Portuguese ambassadors to discuss foreign policy priorities with members of government, businessmen and academics, and this year the foreign minister of Germany was the guest speaker.
Source: DN
