The Prime Minister of Portugal made an ambiguous statement regarding Ukraine's European integration/Collage of Channel 24
On June 23, Ukraine officially received the status of a candidate for membership in the European Union. However, not all European politicians actively supported this prospect.
Thus, the Prime Minister of Portugal, António Costa, on the eve of a positive decision of the European Council, said that Ukraine's European integration could lead to the collapse of the EU< /strong> rather than strengthening it. In addition, the politician suggested that the path to the European Union could “become a trap” directly for our state if “inconsistent decisions” are made.
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Portuguese prime minister treats Ukraine's European integration with a reservation
It is noted that António Costa announced his warning about the European integration of our state during a debate in the Portuguese parliament before the as the European Council announced a positive decision granting us candidate status.
The topic of Ukraine was raised by the Portuguese deputy from the Livre party, Rui Tavares. He criticized the Portuguese government's plan for the development model of his country, given the perspective of expanding the borders of the European Union, in particular the possible full membership of Ukraine.
The Prime Minister replied to Tavares that Portugal from the very beginning discussions takes all possible EU accessions seriously and does not create misguided expectations. However, this issue primarily concerns the institutions and architecture of the entire European Union.
In order to be serious and consistent, the EU needs a new institutional and budgetary architecture, under the fear that this integration may become not a strengthening of the European Union, but its collapse, not a support for Ukraine, but a trap for Ukraine,” Costa said.
< p>At the same time, the Portuguese prime minister added that, given the “almost unanimous” support of all political forces, Portugal will follow the positive decision of the European Commission to grant Ukraine and Moldova the status of candidates for membership in the European Union.
Recall that on June 23 the European Parliament supported the granting of candidate statuses for EU membership to Ukraine and Moldova. The final decision at the European Council summit was discussed with complications – Austria and Slovenia were in favor of first granting candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, it soon became known that, despite the disputes, Ukraine received the status of a candidate for EU membership.
