Amadora, Lisbon, Nov. 20, 2024 (Lusa) - Portugal's president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, warned on Wednesday that every time the United States sacrifices the transatlantic relationship, it pays for that mistake later, with the added cost of wars and reconstruction.
"As much as there are US circles - and they do exist - that think it pays to sacrifice the European Union, for the sake of affirming the US economy, or for momentary tactical moves to resolve international conflicts, it's a mistake," said the head of state, at the Military Academy in Amadora, in the Lisbon district.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who was speaking about the future US administration headed by Donald Trump, added: "Every time the United States minimises the transatlantic relationship, it pays for that mistake later, and at an increased cost: it has to pay for wars, it has to pay for reconstruction, it has to pay for realities that it thinks are outdated, turned towards the Pacific".
"Geography has this limitation: Europe is where it is, the United States of America is where it is and so, as important as the Pacific is, so is the Atlantic," said the country's president, who was speaking at the closing session of a congress of the Association of Auditors of National Defence Courses (AACDN).
At this meeting on ‘Security and Defence in Europe - Challenges’, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa argued that the European Union must strengthen its "strategic autonomy and weight in security and defence", but for this investment it needs the "support of public opinion", which "is only possible if there is economic growth".
"It is difficult to explain a priority as important as the political priority of security and defence in societies with economic crises, a lack of recovery, marked inequalities, outdated systems and, therefore, weak leadership," he argued.
The country's president anticipated that, at the start of a "new cycle of leadership", the European Union will face the challenge of "maintaining and strengthening its unity in a context in which there will be many demands for original positions", while "always safeguarding the transatlantic axis".
"All of this together could be more complex if the United States fails Europe, at least in part, because it would make it difficult to manage the Ukrainian front and it would make it difficult for there to be an urgent single voice from Europe, which there isn't yet, regarding the Middle and Near East," he considered.
For Marcelo Rebelo de Sa, "it goes without saying that the transatlantic relationship is in the US interest, not just in the European interest," and both "the United States and the European Union will emerge stronger or weaker from this moment of transition depending on whether the new US administration decides to be more or less in favour of transatlantic convergence."
In his opinion, Donald Trump's previous administration, "eight years ago, did not favour convergence".
"This time, what many people, firstly in Europe, but also in the United States, want is for it to triumph, politically and economically. As for the Russian Federation and China, they will gain from anything that weakens the transatlantic axis and lose from anything that strengthens it," he added.
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