President of the Assembly of the Republic Augusto Santos Silva this Wednesday defended the role of parliaments in strengthening post-Brexit bilateral relations between Portugal and the United Kingdom.
Speaking to reporters at the end of his visit to the British Parliament, at the invitation of his colleague Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, Santos e Silva stressed the “contribution at the parliamentary level to the strengthening of bilateral relations between Portugal and the United Kingdom” after the UK left the European Union.
“Parliament adds to other plans – relations between heads of state, relations between governments – a plan for the pluralistic representation of Portuguese society and, therefore, our today’s interlocutors. [esta quarta-feira] I could see how the improvement and expansion of bilateral relations between the United Kingdom and Portugal is the unanimous position of the Portuguese Parliament,” he said.
The President of the Assembly of the Republic traveled with MPs Sergio Sousa Pinto (PS and President of the Portugal-UK Parliamentary Friendship Group), Joaquim Miranda Sarmento (PSD Parliamentary Leader), Joao Dias (PCP) and Isabel Pires (BE).
During the day, the delegation met with the European Affairs Committee, Speaker of the House of Lords John McFall and members of the UK-Portugal Parliamentary Friendship Group.
During these contacts, they took the opportunity to raise some issues concerning the Portuguese community, namely visas and residence permits, as well as the association of the United Kingdom with the Horizonte program, which is of interest to Portuguese research scientists working in British institutions.
Santos Silva and Portuguese MPs also attended the plenary, which was attended by British Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden representing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who was absent from the NATO summit in Lithuania.
“While talking with the parliamentary delegation, our interlocutors spoke with the majority [parlamentar portuguesa] today and with the majority tomorrow, with the minority today, with the minority in the morning. It is very important for them to realize that in terms of bilateral relations between the two countries, this is a priority that concerns the entire Portuguese Parliament,” Santos Silva said.
During the visit, he returned an invitation to Lindsay Hoyle to attend the Assembly of the Republic in Lisbon, which the Englishman accepted, but the date has not yet been set.