Brussels, Jan. 19, 2021 (Lusa) - The European commissioner for the internal market said on Tuesday that Portugal is "absolutely right to focus" on the recovery of the EU economy during the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the European Union, asking the country to ensure the functioning of the single market.

"As far as recovery is concerned, I think that the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the European Union is absolutely right to focus on recovery and this is achieved with the right investment, with added value for all Europeans and European countries", Thierry Breton said in an interview with Lusa and other European media in Brussels.

"It is a very important priority, which I strongly support", he added.

In this interview the day before Portugal's prime minister, António Costa, presents the priorities of the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the EU to the plenary session of the European parliament in Brussels, Thierry Breton described Portugal's ambitions as "quite appropriate and timely".

"The first [priority] relates to the single market and it is important to ensure that free movement and its organisation and logistics are maintained. We have been learning a lot about the importance of the single market and we saw in the first wave of the pandemic how important it is to ensure the flow of goods and commodities," he said.

Faced with a resurgence of infections and restrictive measures to try and contain the new coronavirus, "we must ensure, in my view, that the single market continues to operate normally" this first half of the year, Breton said.

"There is still the priority of putting political pressure on the package that came out of the European Council, which is important to reduce the impact of the crisis and achieve our digital and environmental priorities," he said, referring to the €750 billion Recovery Fund and the new long-term EU budget.

He said Portugal should also lead the EU in reducing its dependence on third countries on issues like hydrogen and lithium and have more rules for the digital area.

"Regarding my portfolio, we will have [this semester] discussions on the new Digital Services and Digital Markets laws [...] and it is important because the sooner we can make progress on this, the better it will be," Breton added.

At issue are the new Digital Services and Digital Markets laws, presented in mid-December by the European Commission to the Council and the European Parliament.

The new Digital Services Act - which is being negotiated with the European Parliament and member states - provides from the outset that digital platforms which fail to meet their obligations will, in the most serious cases, be fined up to 6% of annual turnover.

In addition, "it is important that the Portuguese presidency also puts the proposal for a regulation on European governance of data and the need for a revision of the rules on cyber-security, on the agenda" Breton told the press conference.

ANE/ADB // ADB.

Lusa