The Chairman of the Portuguese Parliament met on Tuesday in Kyiv with the head of the Ukrainian state, with whom he discussed the country’s accession to the European Union and the role of Portugal in connecting the countries of Latin America and Africa.
Speaking to Lusa by phone from Kiev, where he is on an official visit between Tuesday and Wednesday, Augusto Santos Silva called the meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky “quite useful” and highlighted the point “where he most clearly expressed the value that Portugal adds” . in the political and diplomatic management of this conflict.”
“Perhaps the most important point of the meeting concerned the role that Portugal is playing – and can play even more – in the dialogue with the countries of the southern hemisphere, in particular with the countries of Latin America and Africa, with which we have very close ties and to which we have conveyed our position on this war between Russia and Ukraine,” he said.
The President of the Assembly of the Republic stressed that “the clarity of Portugal’s position is known from the first moment” of the condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“And the doubts expressed by various Latin American and African countries are well known, often saying that this is a war that belongs to Europe, not to them. An international order based on rules that we all defend,” he said.
The meeting, which took place around 15:00 local time (13:00 in Lisbon), lasted about an hour, according to Santos Silva, and even longer than expected with PS, PSD, IL representatives. and BE and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, whom Santos Silva already knew as he held these positions between 2015 and 2022.
At the meeting, the process of Ukraine’s candidacy to the European Union, which already has the status of a candidate country, was discussed, Santos Silva congratulated Zelensky on how the country “fulfilled its role with great determination.” The conversation included prospects for cooperation between Ukraine and NATO.
“Most of the countries of the Atlantic Alliance and the European Union, including Portugal, supported Ukraine on a bilateral basis, and the country has the prospect of considering that its place in the West, it is in Europe, which means, in addition to belonging to the European Union, to have a certain perspective in relation to NATO. Apparently, the focus at the moment is the war, which we must stop with the necessary condition: the cessation of hostilities by Russia and the withdrawal of the occupied territories of Ukraine, ”it is considered.
Finally, the Ukrainian president “very emphatically” thanked for the support that Portugal has given to the country, and reported on the most pressing needs for military equipment, which Santos Silva took “a note to convey to the government.”
On Wednesday, the Chairman of the Assembly of the Republic will address the plenary session of the Ukrainian Parliament.
“I will intervene with pleasure and honor,” he stressed, adding that later he would have a meeting and a working lunch with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
On Wednesday afternoon, Santos Silva will meet with students from Portugal at the Faculty of Philology of Kyiv University.
“This is a way to celebrate World Portuguese Language Day, which is next Friday. It is especially symbolic that one of the initiatives is a meeting with Portuguese students in Ukraine,” he stressed, emphasizing that the Portuguese language is “the language of peace and communication”.
On this visit, Santos Silva is accompanied by a parliamentary delegation consisting of PS deputy and parliamentary leader Eurico Brillante Díaz, Jorge Paulo de Oliveira (PSD), João Cotrim de Figueiredo (IL) and Isabelle Pires (BE), without representatives. benches are enough or from PCP.
Last week, the President of the Assembly of the Republic announced that he had excluded Chega, the third largest party, from delegations visiting foreign parliaments following an incident at Lula da Silva’s April 25 welcoming session.
In response to Lusa’s question, Santos Silva’s office justified the presence of four parliamentary benches on the basis that a rotation rule with a maximum of four deputies was agreed on these trips, and also as a sign of support for the Assembly of the Republic of Ukraine. .
On April 21 last year, the President of Ukraine addressed the Portuguese Parliament via videoconference at a solemn welcoming meeting, which was attended by the President of the Republic Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Prime Minister António Costa, and in which the PKP was the only party with parliamentary representation that did not participate, because she didn’t agree with him.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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