Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said on Friday that the President of the European Commission (EC) “expects a lot” from the Portuguese presidency of the EU Council, considering that the coming months will be “a very full six months”.
“The President of the EC told me that she expects a lot from this Portuguese presidency because, like all Europeans, we expect a lot from the effort of vaccination and therefore from the fight against the pandemic, and she expects a lot, because we all hope, that the regulation of the multi-annual financial framework which is starting to be applied this year will be swift and will reach everywhere,” Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said in a statement to journalists at the Palácio de Belém this evening.
“I also expect a lot because we all hope, despite the elections in the Netherlands in late spring, that by the end of the Portuguese presidency there will be ratification by the EU states of the resilience plan, and we also expect a lot from the start of the conference on the future of the EU,” he added.
Speaking hours after receiving Ursula von der Leyen in Lisbon, Marcelo also revealed that there had been praise for the first days of the Portuguese presidency.
“I heard praise for the Portuguese position at the start of the presidency and for the predisposition of the Portuguese government,” he said, adding: “It will be a very full six months, a very difficult presidency because there is still the social summit, the summit with India, meetings with Africa, the resumption of relations with the US, and many fronts at the same time, such as vaccination and combating the pandemic, which are for yesterday, not tomorrow.
The President of the European Commission arrived in Lisbon today for the traditional visit of the college of Commissioners to the country holding the presidency of the EU Council, which, given the pandemic, is taking place in a reduced format, with only eight Commissioners present rather than the entire EU executive, and with the programme reduced to one day instead of the usual two.
Ursula Von der Leyen is accompanied by the three Executive Vice-Presidents, Mr Frans Timmermans (in charge of the European Ecological Pact portfolio), Mr Valdis Dombrovskis (economist) and Ms Margrethe Vestager (Digital), and the EU Vice-President and High Representative for Foreign Policy, Mr Josep Borrell.
The delegation also includes Portuguese Commissioner Elisa Ferreira (Cohesion and Reforms), and Commissioners Nicolas Schmit, who is responsible for Social Affairs, one of the main priorities of the Portuguese presidency, Margaritis Schinas (Promoting a European way of life) and Maros Sefcovic (Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight).
After the joint press conference with the head of the Portuguese executive, the President of the European Commission met, by videoconference, with the President of the Portuguese Parliament, Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues.
