The Minister of State and Foreign Affairs said, on Wednesday, that the member states of the European Union They should impose conditions for staying in the European bloc.
We can’t ignore or override the Article 7 and other rule of law procedures and other processes we have that have basically all gotten to this point: there is not only an entry requirement but a requirement to remain in Europe: union and commitment to this set of principles and values is not barebones”.
In the European context, again without naming countries, Santos Silva said it is necessary to respect the independence of the courts, freedom of the press, and “guarantees of the people and civil liberties”, as well as the sharing of solidarity between states.
The Minister of State and Foreign Affairs was speaking at the opening of the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFE) that took place in Lisbon. CoFE is an initiative Dedicated to giving a voice to the citizens It intends, in the near future, to contribute to a better understanding of the concerns and concerns of civil society.
The Minister also recalled at the opening session the political decisions that allowed the issuance of the first joint debt and “additional financial instruments” in relation to the new bonds, following the response to the health crisis.
“For people in my area and my way of seeing Europe, there are points like the eurozone budget in important terms, points like common European commitments or a harmonized tax base have been achieved throughout this crisis,” he said, proposing a discussion about these exceptional measures.
Is this a new path to European construction? I hope it will mean a new path, but we will have to talk a lot about it, “said Santos Silva.
On the role of the European Union in the world, the Foreign Minister said that it is necessary to provide the European bloc with mechanisms that reduce dependence on foreign markets “subject to institutional conditions” other than those of the European Union.
In this sense, he advocated the re-industrialization of the European Union, which should be done in a non-protectionist manner to achieve a state of autonomy but with an “openness to the world” which should be preferentially associated, after Brexit, with the US and UK, even Consolidation of Democracies and the North Atlantic.
On the other hand, he said that “it is necessary for Europe to better understand that its neighbor is called Africa” and that from Latin America to the Indo-Pacific, the bloc’s ability to communicate with everyone is “critical for the EU”. Union” and for the “international order”, stressing that “this will be a structural question for the debate on the future of Europe.”
According to the official letter, CoFE intends to “move Europe beyond its capitals, strengthening the link between Europeans and institutions”.
The event, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was aimed at promoting discussion of the initiative at the national level and calling for the organization of events by civil society.
In addition to civil society organizations, members of the European Affairs Committee of the Assembly of the Republic, the Economic and Social Council, the European Parliament, the European Commission, the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities and the National Youth Council participated.
