Lisbon, Jan. 15, 2021 (Lusa) – The President of the Portuguese Parliament (AR) stressed on Friday the urgency of starting up the European Recovery Fund and stressed the role of member states' parliaments in order to release funds.

In a videoconference meeting with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues underlined the "vast legislative and implementation work" that the EU will have to face in 2021.

On the role of national parliaments in this matter, Ferro Rodrigues stressed that "the most urgent" was the ratification of the decision on the recovery plans for the 27, "essential for the implementation of the NextGenerationEU programme", the €750 billion fund to tackle the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

At a meeting held as part of the European Commission's traditional visit to the country hosting the EU Council presidency, Ferro Rodrigues praised Von der Leyen's work in "such hard times" and expressed his "appreciation" for the Commission's work in ensuring coordination of the European response to the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, an area "where the Union's competences are limited".

"We look with great interest at the proposals to strengthen European cooperation on health," he added, referring to the 'EU for Health' programme.

In his speech, Ferro Rodrigues also mentioned the need for agreement on the Pact on Migration and Asylum, reiterating AR's interest in Von der Leyen's contribution to the "rooting" of the high level interparliamentary conference on the subject, scheduled for the 'Portuguese semester'.

With regard to the conference on democracy and human rights, the president of the AR considered that it was "even more urgent" to reflect and analyse these issues after the "shock" that was the invasion of the Capitol last week in Washington.

To this end, mentioning cases in Northern Europe, Italy and France, Ferro Rodrigues hopes that this initiative "will bring together, if feasible, the European Parliament, the American Congress and national parliaments of member states".

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the College of Commissioners' visit to Lisbon is taking place in a reduced format, with only eight Commissioners present rather than the entire Community executive, and with the programme reduced to one day instead of the usual two.

Ursula Von der Leyen is accompanied by the three Executive Vice-Presidents, Frans Timmermans (responsible for the European Ecological Pact portfolio), Valdis Dombrovskis (Economist) and Margrethe Vestager (Digital), and the EU Vice-President and High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell.

The delegation also includes Portuguese Commissioner Elisa Ferreira (Cohesion and Reforms), and Commissioners Nicolas Schmit (Social Affairs), one of the main priorities of the Portuguese presidency, Margaritis Schinas (Promoting a European way of life) and Maros Sefcovic (Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight).

After a joint press conference with the head of the Portuguese executive, the President of the European Commission met, by videoconference, with Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues and also had a meeting with the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

Ursula von der Leyen concludes the programme of today's visit to Lisbon with a working dinner with Prime Minister António Costa.

Portugal took over its fourth presidency of the EU Council on 1 January, which will run until 30 June, thus succeeding Germany, which took over the presidency in July 2020, and ahead of Slovenia, which takes over in July this year.

JAYG/AYLS // AYLS

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