EU? Insurance defends: “Common problems require common solutions”

O President of the Republic today considered it incomprehensible that some leaders of European Union (EU) countries want to cut resources and argued that support for cohesion and the outermost regions with investment in defence should be compatible.

António José Seguro took this position at CNN Portugal International Summit, at Estoril Congress Centre, in Cascais district of Lisbon, without referring to any European leader or any specific country, at a time when there are divisions over the next EU budget.

“ Common problems require common solutions. This idea is one of the pillars of the European project. It is therefore incomprehensible that some European leaders should not give Europe the necessary instruments and resources. Europe cannot give wrong signals,” he said.

The Head of State then argued that “Europe does not have to choose between investing more in defence on the one hand and continuing to support social cohesion and the outermost regions on the other”.

“ These are not mutually exclusive options. On the contrary, there is no opposition between new and old budgetary priorities. They are all fundamental to ensuring Europe’s internal cohesion and thus also to ensure its external projection,” he continued.

António José Seguro concluded that “Europe needs a budget with the right priorities” and reiterated that it should be “approved by the end of the year”.

As for the next EU budget, so-called “fugal” countries such as Germany, the Netherlands or Denmark have considered the cuts envisaged by Ireland to be insufficient, in the order of 8% in relation to the Commission’s initial proposal. The “cohesion friends”, including Portugal, have already contested the cuts in the Irish proposal in areas such as global cooperation and are calling for funds for the EU’s outermost regions.

In his speech at the Estoril Congress Centre, the President of the Republic also briefly spoke about the 31st United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP31) in Turkey.

“We cannot go back on the goals that we collectively proposed to respond to global climate urgency,” he said.

António José Seguro pointed out climate change as a “paradigmatic example” of the need for “supernational solutions” for global problems.

“We therefore need more effective international institutions, stronger alliances and cooperation mechanisms capable of monitoring the scale of the challenges,” he added.