Markus Lenhardt / DPA / LUSA
António Costa, President of the European Council
President of the European Council foresees support measures in the face of high energy prices and defends dialogue between the EU and Russia.
The President of the European Council considers that the objective of the United States and Israel with the war against Iran, which is “not clear”, will dictate the duration of the conflict, and admits “deep concern” about the consequences.
“I think everything [tempo que durará a guerra] it depends on what the ultimate objective of this mission is and that is not clear,” he said. Antonio Costa, in an interview with Lusa and other news agencies as part of the European Newsroom project on the eve of a European summit scheduled for Thursday and Friday in which the situation in the Middle East will be addressed.
“This is an initiative adopted by the United States and Israel without any prior information to European allies. We express our deep concern about the consequences of this war for the rules-based international order, the humanitarian consequences and also the impact on energy costs in the global economy”, added the former Portuguese Prime Minister.
Asked about the impact of this war on the international order, António Costa said: “As president of the European Council, I am not a lawyer, so I have to analyze this issue from a political point of view and, from that point of view, (…) I see that the United States and Israel decided to launch this initiative without informing their allies, which means that we face a very high risk of increased international tensions and considerable risks to stability across the Middle East region.”
Furthermore, he added, “we face a serious risk to European security, to our economic security, the risk of a worsening humanitarian crisis and also, learning from the past, the risk of an increase in terrorism”.
Supporting energy
António Costa trusts that the leaders of the European Union (UE), meeting at the end of the week, they will approve support measures in the face of high energy pricesconsidering that this crisis comes at a “dramatic and challenging moment”.
“This crisis represents a dramatic and challenging moment for the rules-based international order and, of course, has a huge impact on energy costs. We therefore call on the European Commission to come forward with a set of temporary and specific measures aimed at dealing with these rising energy costs,” he said.
The high-level European meeting takes place about three weeks after the start of the military offensive carried out by Israel and the United States against Iran and the consequent Iranian response.
“This situation reminds us that we are on the right path when investing in the energy transition because we cannot depend on imported energy and we need to develop energy produced internally, whether from renewable sources or nuclear, but we need to be independent and reinforce our strategic autonomy”, he added.
According to the former Portuguese Prime Minister, even before the current energy crisis caused by the situation in the Middle East, the European Council had already “identified that it is necessary to reduce the cost of energy” in the EU.
EU-Russia-Ukraine
The President of the European Council argues that, “in the future”, the EU will have to “dialogue with Russia” for peace in Ukrainebut stresses that this will not happen now and will not be related to energy supply.
“Our relations with Russia are not on the agenda, but in any case I believe that, in the future, we will have to talk to Russia. Not about energy, but about European security and peace in Ukraine”, said António Costa.
“At this time, we must avoid disrupting these efforts led by President [norte-americano, Donald] Trump to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, but we need to be prepared because one day President Trump may decide not to continue with his efforts, or one day, unfortunately, he may fail in his efforts,” said Costa.
Still on Ukraine, António Costa believes that the Hungary enable the adoption of a 90 billion European loan to Ukraine, despite tensions between Budapest and Kiev. “As you know, I am optimistic. I believe that Hungary will respect itself, colleagues [Estados-membros] and the treaties” of the (EU.
“As far as the Prime Minister is concerned [húngaro, Viktor] Orbán, I don’t need to convince him to accept what he already accepted on December 18th. A decision taken by the European Council is a decision taken and all Member States must respect it”, he recalled.
