European Council President-elect António Costa said he intends to help Ukraine “find a just peace” and refused to negotiate directly with the Russian president, stressing that only Zelensky can do this.
In an interview with NOW TV on Tuesday by journalist Judith Souza, Antonio Costa was asked whether, as President of the European Council, he intends to be a “mentor for a peaceful solution in Ukraine.”
“No, I have no such intention. I have the intention to help the European Union contribute to Ukraine achieving a just and lasting peace, which it has a right to, which Ukrainians have a right to and which we, Europeans, want from Ukraine. Because this is a guarantee that we will also have a just and lasting peace,” he said.
Asked whether he believed that, as President of the European Council, he would be able to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Costa replied: “There is only one person with the mandate to talk to the President of the Russian Federation and negotiate with the President of Russia, who is the President of Ukraine.”
“Ukraine has the legitimacy only to negotiate with Russia, and this legitimacy is a legitimacy that we cannot weaken or diminish,” he stressed.
António Costa stressed that Ukraine is a “sovereign, democratic state that has chosen its political leadership,” which was carried out “with great courage and in absolutely unimaginable circumstances.”
“Therefore, we must respect this leadership and it is our duty to support it, because this support for Ukraine is support for ourselves,” he said.
Costa recalled that the EU has already stated that it will support Kyiv “in whatever is necessary and for as long as it is necessary,” and that “the conditions for a just and lasting peace can only be determined by Ukraine, because only the attacked party has the right of legitimacy to determine when to end the war.”
The President-elect of the European Council stressed that the Portuguese have “good reason” to understand “the importance of firmness in upholding international law, dating back to the Indonesian occupation of Timor-Leste.”
“For almost two decades, Portugal was often isolated, defending a small piece of territory that was part of an island, in an archipelago of hundreds of islands and with very few thousands of people. But it was precisely this firmness that made one of today’s great world powers – Indonesia – have to agree to respect international law,” he said.
According to the former Prime Minister of Portugal, we cannot be less firm towards Russia now than we were then towards Indonesia.
“We cannot ask the Ukrainians to be more tolerant of the aggressor than we ask the Timorese,” he said.
In the interview, Costa also said that he was enthusiastic about taking on the role of President of the European Council, “but also aware that it is a particularly difficult mission at the moment the world and the EU are going through today.”
“In a situation of war, a situation in which the European economy must make enormous efforts to restore its momentum, with the prospect of a new enlargement and the need for Europe to assert itself in this diverse world where it is and where it needs to develop partnerships and find new friends in the new emerging powers: India, New Zealand and Australia, Brazil, South Africa,” he said.
Asked which of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris would be the best US president for the EU and transatlantic relations, Costa replied that, looking at their platform, the one who would “clearly strengthen transatlantic relations is Kamala Harris.”
Asked if there was any doubt about this at the level of European decision-makers, Costa replied: “No. If Europeans voted, I have no doubt who would win.”
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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