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  • 22-12-2020 09:59

Portugal: Pandemic, Brexit, 'issues where Portuguese EU presidency may make a difference' - ex-commission member


Lisbon, Dec. 22, 2020 (Lusa) – Former European Commission Member Carlos Moedas considered that the pandemic and 'Brexit' are the issues where Portugal 'may or may not make a difference' during the Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Carlos Moedas, who was speaking by videoconference at an event organised by the Social Democratic Party (PSD), began by saying that during his five years as European Commission member, he experienced 11 EU Council presidencies, in which he identified a problem, which had to do with their length.

"Six months is a very short time. All countries overestimate their presidencies because they think that theirs are better than the others or that they are going to do more, but then they realise that six months go by very quickly".

The former European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation warned that "if [member states] do not have everything prepared before, they will have a huge difficulty", estimating that "the secret of planning a presidency has everything to do with that preparation".

"If I were in the Portuguese government, I would think of three 'little boxes'. The first 'box' contains the pandemic and 'Brexit'. And that is the first 'box' in which Portugal may or may not make a difference", he considered.

The second 'box' in which the government should develop the presidency of the EU Council, according to Carlos Moedas, has to do with the regulations on the multi-annual budget and the 'Next Generation EU'.

He said that the Portuguese Presidency should consider issues such as strategic autonomy, a "very important" theme.

"Strategic autonomy is to be assertive in terms of foreign trade policy, without being naive. "We are not protectionists, but we are not naive Those who want to play our game, have to play by our rules".

"This strategic autonomy has already been seen, for example, in Europe's trade agreements," recalling the Paris Agreement and the agreement with Mercosur.

He also spoke of the European pillar of social rights, one of the priorities of the Portuguese Presidency, considering that "it is a difficult gamble" of António Costa's government.

"Europe has very little power on the social side, it is very difficult to schedule a presidency on the part of the Social Pillar where some documents are signed, but nothing comes out of it. People get angry and rightly so. We all have the right to work, but what is to be done concretely?"

"Countries give very little power to the European Commission in this area and the positions are very different. What do people expect, what can countries do? It's difficult to hold a Portuguese presidency with a Social Pillar, but there may be surprises," he said.

BYC/AYLS // AYLS

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