Porto, Portugal, Dec. 3, 2024 (Lusa) - Portugal's prime minister, on Tuesday, said he was in favour of the existence of European commercial and industrial giants as long as their development is "not held hostage" by France and Germany, warning of the need for "equal opportunities".
"I am in favour of the logic of creating European champions, as long as they are not all located in France and Germany," said Luis Montenegro, in Porto, at a conference organised by the newspaper Eco, in response to a question about the possibility of creating "European champions" in terms of investment.
However, the chief executive pointed out one condition: "Europe can have commercial or industrial giants, I don't see any problem with that, as long as the strategy aimed at setting them up and developing them isn't held hostage by the interests of France and Germany alone, which is what often ends up happening, and now there are two or three more countries."
A few moments earlier, while speaking, Luis Montenegro warned that equal opportunities should be the new emphasis of European cohesion policies: "We are very interested in deepening the vision that should underpin cohesion policies," he said.
Pointing out that the government is preparing a "new approach" to the European cohesion pillar, Montenegro issued a warning: "I believe that the times when Portugal goes to Europe with its hand out to ask for cohesion funds are not in line with the strategies that have been designed for the European Union today, nor are they in line with the solidarity, the understanding of our partners, that we are constantly demanding aid in the same context".
He continued: "The solidarity we should be asking for is, above all, equal opportunities. Today, for there to be a cohesion policy that interests us, it's not exactly access to funds and financing from the European Union. We certainly need that (...), but above all we need our companies to have the same conditions as companies in the centre of Europe, as companies in Eastern Europe."
As an example, Luis Montenegro pointed to the issue of energy production and distribution, arguing that it is "unacceptable that after more than 10 years the procedures for connecting and interconnecting the Iberian Peninsula and Europe are still at exactly the same point" as they were a decade ago.
"After having signed up with the word of the Portuguese state, the Spanish state, the French state, with the word of the European Union (...) it is unacceptable, because justifications have been invented, that this interconnection has not been made," he argued.
Montenegro pointed out the consequences of the delay in these connections: "At the same time, we are giving a blow to equal opportunities, we are giving a blow to autonomy, to Europe's dependence on the supply of energy, because we don't take advantage of the energy that we ourselves are capable of producing and in the case of the Iberian Peninsula we are wasting the investments made with a view to guaranteeing a climate transition, since we are talking about the production of renewable energies," he said.
"The impossibility of us giving Europe what we have as potential for green energy production is contrary to the principle of the European Union," he concluded.
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