Prime Minister António Costa said on Monday “separate the waters” between bilateral relations with the United Kingdom and the post-Brexit differences between London and Brussels over Northern Ireland, in which he supports the European Union.
Asked after a meeting with his British counterpart, Boris Johnson, at the official residence in Downing Street, about the tensions between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom, Costa said he had conveyed the Portuguese position. “we part the waters. The negotiation between the European Union and the United Kingdom is carried out by the Commission, and we fully support the Commission. And the British government has no doubts about it,” he told reporters.
However, Costa defended that, “within the agreements and divergences within the European Union, there is room to develop the bilateral relationship”. The prime minister said that Portugal “cannot waste” the old Portuguese-British alliance, the oldest in the world, to “put itself in a position to be able to monetize it.”
We focus on what has to do with bilateral relations, which, regardless of the conflicts and convergences between the United Kingdom and the European Union, can be established bilaterally between Portugal and the United Kingdom”, he emphasized.
Portugal and the United Kingdom signed a joint declaration on bilateral cooperation on Monday, which Costa described as the widest in terms of sectors covered in all EU member states in the post-Brexit period.
“This joint statement will be instrumental in relaunching the world’s oldest post-Brexit alliance. It was one of the first signed by the Member States and this is perhaps the one that covers the most topics, from the areas of defense, research, through investment, trade, to technologies, digital transition and renewable energies”, declared the leader of the executive Portuguese.
The British Government will present a bill to unilaterally modify the Northern Ireland Protocol, which has been criticized by the EU. The legislation will give ministers powers to withdraw parts of the Protocol, which was drawn up between the UK and the EU as part of the UK’s Withdrawal Agreement from the European bloc to keep Ireland’s land border open.
The agreement signed in 2020 introduces controls and additional documentation on the movement of goods between the United Kingdom and the province of Northern Ireland, frictions that have been criticized by companies and unionist parties, which are pro-British.
António Costa was received by Boris Johnson at the official residence of the head of the British Government, number 10 Downing Street, in which it was also the first formal meeting between the two since Brexit. Portugal and the United Kingdom signed on Monday a bilateral cooperation agreement between the two post-Brexit countries in areas not covered by the European Union agreements. The declaration covers foreign policy, defense, trade and investment, science and innovation, and education.
The President of the Republic, who was in London until Saturday as part of the June 10 celebrations -events in which António Costa was not present for health reasons-, also highlighted the importance and timing of the this bilateral agreement. closed, precisely on the 650th anniversary of the Treaty of Tagilde, which later became the Treaty of the Portuguese-British Alliance.
According to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the global agreement to be signed with the United Kingdom “does not contradict the rules of Portugal’s membership of the European Union”.
“The agreement completes and shows that Portugal can be a very interesting bridge with the traditional ally of the United Kingdom within the European Union,” said the President of the Republic.
This diplomatic line towards the United Kingdom has been followed by the prime minister since ‘Brexit’.
During the long and complex process of leaving the United Kingdom from the European Union, António Costa sought to play a moderating role in all European Member States, seeking to avoid a breakdown in the negotiation between the Government in London and the Commission’s working group Union headed by Michel. Barnier.
A disorderly exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union, according to estimates made at the time by the Lisbon Executive, would put at risk part of the Portuguese community residing in that country, estimated at around half a million, would make it difficult for British tourists to travel to Portugal and introduce disruptions to the strong bilateral trade and financial relations.
In the program of the XXII Constitutional Government, the second headed by António Costa, Portugal’s objective of carrying out negotiations with the United Kingdom was underlined, with a view to “a future relationship that is as close and deep as possible” after the ‘Brexit’ . That same objective will be on the table at today’s meeting between the Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and Portugal.
Source: Observadora
