José Sena Goulão / Lusa
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
Forgetting Europe is an “illusion”, warns the head of state. “In the China/Russia relationship, China is the leader.” And there is a “new factor” in the world order.
The President of the Republic fears that the new North American administration of Donald Trump will establish “a sort of explicit or implicit agreement” with Russia, assuming China as the main adversary, and forgetting Europe.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke about the next North American administration in a video broadcast at the beginning of the 160th anniversary conference, which takes place at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in Lisbon.
After congratulating the newspaper for 160 years that “are history” and stating that “in good times it remains, resists”, the head of state considered that “it would be much better if this meeting today took place after the President-elect’s speech, or if If you want to be re-elected, an American” – Donald Trump, who will take office on Monday.
“Because it would be clearer what somehow happened in his first term and in the announcements prior to the start of his second term, because It’s a new periodit is a new period in the United States of America and its leadership, although with a lot of similarity to the previous period of the Trump presidency”, he explained.
The President of the Republic said that Now “there are wars that didn’t exist”which needs to end, that “Europe is different and has a crisis in its political, economic and social systems” and that “in the China/Russian Federation relationship, the order of factors has been reversed, China is the leader, and increasingly in the future, and not the Russian Federation”.
As for what the new Trump administration will do in this context, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa warned that “it has already come from President Trump’s previous term and the idea of China’s main adversary, and therefore of a treatment that distinguishes the Russian Federation of China”.
The head of state fears “an explicit or implicit agreement with the Russian Federationand focusing the center of attention, not on the Atlantic, not on Europe, but on the Pacific”, which he described as “an illusion” and “a mistake”.
“It is a mistake because there is an alliance between China and the Russian Federation, and for long enough what is good for one is good for the other. It is clear that the most preserved is China, which profits from the wear and tear of the Russian Federation itself, but above all from Western wear, of various types. And therefore It is an illusion to forget the Atlantic, to forget Europe”he argued.
The President of the Republic highlighted “the role of Europe, the connection between Europe and Africa, the connection between Europe and Latin America” and advised against the option of “forgetting all this due to a concentrated strategy, in theory, only or mainly military , strategically, economically, in China and the Pacific”.
On the other hand, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa pointed out “a new factorwhich are the large multinational groups that appear to act as intermediaries between the great powers”, which illustrates “the concentration of economic power in the hands of a very few, who add political power to economic power”.
“They have business in China, they have business in Russia and they have influence in the United States and America. So they are mediators to solve problems, they buy, sell, intercede, intervene in economic, social and political life, particularly in Europe, do not answer to anyonethey have no control or scrutiny whatsoever,” he said, without naming anyone.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa noted that “this is new and has very little to do with those who have long defended freedom in economic terms, domestically and internationally”.
The head of state highlighted how the international situation “depends a lot on the new style of leadership, the new cycle of American politics” and “the projection of Europe, the forgetfulness of Europe, or the division of Europe”, which could be “in a more difficult positionto, at the same time, face problems such as investing more in defense, but recovering economically, investing more in knowledge, but not neglecting security, not splitting in relation to post-Ukraine”.
The President of the Republic had already considered, in September, that there is an “end of cycle” and that European political systems are going through: it is necessary to “make ruptures”, he argued, saying that Europe is “falling behind”.
