On the last day of Enlargement CEMP, young participants in this “Summer School” of the Portuguese representation of the European Union were at the Youth Festival in LVIV, where they met the Ukrainian first minister
“Mrs. Prime Minister, I want to thank you on behalf of Portugal for the courage of your country, for fighting for us, for the Europeans.” Álvaro Borges got up and took the microphone to go to Ukrainian ruler Yulia Svyrydenko, who was attending a meeting with young people in LVIV. The prime minister had been interviewed over more than hours in Ukrainian, but even though he didn’t understand anything what was being said, the Portuguese young people who were there did not round up. In the end, when there was the opportunity to put questions, Álvaro spoke on behalf of the whole group and did not let the nerves take the best when he praised Ukraine: “You are the brave people in the world.” Then it was time to run to the rear of the building, where the whole group had the opportunity to take a photograph with the Prime Minister.
Alvaro Borges, 25, is a jurist and works in the Azores Regional Government in São Miguel, the island where he was born, and is in Ukraine as one of the participants of the Enlargement CEMP, the initiative of the Portuguese representation of the European Commission and the Erasmus+ agency that joined about 20 Portuguese and 20 Ucranians in LVIV to discuss the challenges and future of the European Union. Most young people are college students, some finished entering the degree, others already attending masters and doctoral programs. Compared to them, Álvaro is already an adult. And that is noted in the way it speaks. Perhaps that’s why the group spokesman was elected at this non-emblematic moment.
Álvaro wanted to participate in this “summer field” for two reasons, explains: “One is the public recognition of Ukraine, I have a great respect for the Ukrainians and what they are doing. And the second is to put the Azores on the map. The Azores are often forgotten and I want to show that it is possible to come from a place in the Atlantic, isolated, almost in America, it is possible to come from the extreme western Europe and be present here in Europe” which St. Michael received 200 ukracers, war refugees.
Above all, Álvaro wanted to know the Ukrainian young people and listen to them: “This experience, this sharing that is very close, face to face, is different from being on the couch at home watching television and watching the news. It is impossible to be indifferent to this emotional charge.” At the end of this four -day adventure in LVIV, although he liked the debate panels and conversations around the European Union, this young Portuguese admits that what impacted him most was to “see the relatives of the victims and the injured on the ground”. “Every person I look at the street has their own story. And each of these people I met here too. Many who are here in LVIV come from many parts of Ukraine, have come from Mariupol, from Kiev, Kharkiv, finally, from other sites, and bring with it stories that leave us our hearts. It has been very exciting.”
It was this emotion that I wanted to pass to the Prime Minister. The meeting, at the end of the Youth Festival, lasted a little more than a minute, but it was enough to mark the last day of this trip.
