This Thursday, the President of the Republic received the non-executive Heads of State of the European Union at the beginning of the meeting of the Arraiolos Group at a dinner in the Port wine cellars dedicated to the war in Ukraine.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa arrived at the Vila Nova de Gaia pier in the Porto area at 19:48, accompanied by the heads of state of Italy, Poland and Ireland, who traveled in their own cars.
The rest arrived in minibuses, with the exception of the German head of state, who was unable to attend the dinner.
Also absent from the dinner is Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who only joins the group as a guest on Friday.
Near the cellars where the dinner was held, many people gathered, waiting to find out what caused such strict security measures, some connecting it with the celebration of October 5th.
Upon arrival and in statements to journalists, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa suggested that the meeting of the Arraiolos group was “very important” in order to “understand the pulse” at the level of heads of state of the European Union regarding the war in Ukraine.
“It is very important to understand what the pulse is at the level of heads of state [sobre a guerra na Ucrânia] because the European Council gives its impetus at the level of governments, that is, at the level of prime ministers and governments, with one or two exceptions, which are presidential regimes,” said the Portuguese head of state.
On Friday, the heads of state will meet in two sessions with a break for lunch: the first will begin at 10:15, the second at 14:30. Following the debate, which was closed to the media, there will be a joint press conference scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
According to the President of the Republic, “the heads of state of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier from Bulgaria, Rumen Radev from Croatia, Zoran Milanovic from Slovenia, Natasha Pirc Musar from Estonia, Alar Karish from Estonia are present. Finland, Sauli Niinistö, from Greece, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, from Hungary, Katalin Nowak, from Ireland, Michael Higgins, from Italy, Sergio Mattarella, from Latvia, Edgars Rinkevics, from Malta, George Vela and from Poland, Andrzej Duda.”
The meeting will be followed by a dinner for the heads of state at 20:00 at the Palácio da Bolsa.
The last meeting of the Arraiolos Group held in Portugal took place nine years ago in Braga in September 2014, when Cavaco Silva was President of the Republic and Jorge Sampaio was present as a guest.