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  • 26-01-2021 11:44

EU/Presidency: 'EU must not lose momentum offered by Biden administration for dialogue' - minister


Brussels, Jan. 26, 2021 (Lusa) – Portugal's foreign minister, Augusto Santos Silva, argued on Tuesday in the European Parliament in Brussels that the European Union must not lose the new momentum offered by Joe Biden's administration to relaunch dialogue with the United States.

He told the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee (EP) that the priorities of the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the EU in the field of foreign policy should be presented, but he was fully aware that responsibility for this area lay primarily with the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, and that Portugal was keen to "support the efforts of the High Representative in relaunching transatlantic dialogue and consultation".

Pointing out that "the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the EU will seek, in close coordination with the High Representative, to achieve eight essential objectives", Santos Silva pointed out that the first is the "re-launch of transatlantic dialogue and consultation by taking advantage of the new 'momentum' offered by the Biden administration in the United States".

"We hope at all levels, whether at the level of heads of state and government or foreign ministers, to relaunch as soon as possible transatlantic dialogue as a dialogue between friends, between allies, between close ones. A dialogue, not a confrontation, even when the issues we are dealing with are issues where there are objective differences of interest or opinion between the EU and the US, as is the case in areas of trade, or as is the case today in the key area of the taxation of large digital technology companies," he said.

In response to the committee's MEPs, the Portuguese minister stressed that it was crucial "not to miss this opportunity, not to miss this 'momentum' represented by the new US administration" after the most troubled relationship in the last four years.

Pointing out at the beginning of the parliamentary hearing that one of the three main objectives of the Portuguese presidency in this first half of the year is to strengthen the EU's strategic autonomy, Augusto Santos Silva insisted that this does not mean "trying to weaken the transatlantic link, quite the contrary".

"For example, strengthening investment in defence and security means strengthening the European pillar of NATO, not weakening our strong link with the US and Canada, but the opposite," he said.

Santos Silva said that "it is very important that there is no ambiguity, no vagueness in this matter", because "this concept of strategic autonomy is a necessary, useful concept, but one that must be used carefully and precisely".

"Strengthening Europe's strategic autonomy is not closing Europe to the world; on the contrary, it is opening Europe to the world. Strengthening strategic autonomy is not breaking with the alliances consolidated in the post-war period, but on the contrary, strengthening those alliances. Defending Europe's strategic autonomy does not mean taking positions that are obsolete, of a sovereign or protectionist nature, but rather having a sense of geopolitical balance and seeking to lead, not only by example, but also by action," he said.

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