President of the Republic Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa this Wednesday showed his agreement to send three Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, saying that Portugal’s aid is “in line” with the capabilities of other countries.
“This is what the Prime Minister has communicated to the President of the Republic and I, as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, agreed,” said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on the sidelines of the Bial Clinical Medicine Award Ceremony, which took place at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP). ).
The head of state stressed that Portugal’s assistance “corresponds to what makes sense” in comparison with the capabilities of each country and will allow “immediately responding to the situation,” given Ukraine’s need for this military equipment.
Marcelo Rebelo de Souza allowed for the possibility that “later” the government would consider “other additional hypotheses” about aid.
“This does not mean that later the government cannot consider other additional hypotheses, but so far the proposal of the government and the contribution of Portugal have seemed good to me,” he added.
Prime Minister António Costa announced this Wednesday that Portugal is implementing a maintenance plan for Leopard 2 tanks and that it could deliver three tanks to Ukraine next March.
Asked about the presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Thursday’s European Council meeting in Brussels, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stressed that “you can’t create expectations and then be disappointed”, referring to the expectations of Ukraine, as well as the EU leaders who are in the process of negotiations .
“This means that it is a complex process, but it must be treated with integrity and determination, because it involves many changes. It includes political changes, the center of Europe with the accession of new members to the east will move further to the east, institutional changes, the accession of Ukraine means the accession of a country that has and will have a very significant weight in the European Union in terms of presence in the bodies, “- he said, noting that the accession of new countries would also have implications for the “functioning” of the European Union.
“An increase of 27 [países]which this Wednesday more than 30 [países] this is an important transformation,” said Marcelo Rebelo de Souza, also pointing to the “economic consequences”, whether in terms of “economic recovery of Ukraine” or the assignment of “European funds” to new countries.
Along with the “political-diplomatic front” that Ukraine is facing, the head of state stressed that the military front “may become really decisive in the coming months.”
“It was very important for peace on the continent. [europeu] and for world peace, that we really have an epilogue as soon as possible, and this is in line with the ideals of the UN Charter and international law,” he said.
The Prime Minister confirmed this Wednesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be attending Thursday’s European Council meeting in Brussels to discuss support for Ukraine and its accession to the European Union.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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