Lisbon, April 1, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal's foreign minister, Paulo Rangel, said on Tuesday that Europe must deepen its political integration and diversify its dependencies as a way of reacting to the changing world order and maintaining its strategic autonomy.

"The time has come for European political affirmation," said Paulo Rangel, during his speech at the La Toja Forum, taking place today in Lisbon.

"It's time for strategic autonomy and for what French President Emmanuel Macron controversially calls European sovereignty," he said.

Considering that the Covid-19 crisis has revealed Europe's health vulnerabilities and that the invasion of Ukraine has shown its energy and security vulnerabilities, Rangel said that the European Union needs "a big survival kit: in health, security, the economy and defence".

The defence of Ukraine's territorial integrity must be an objective for Europe, said Paulo Rangel, adding that there was a need to create "a new regulatory framework for the relationship between Europe and the Russian Federation".

"Yes, the Europeans, the Iberians must say "yes" to peace and a ceasefire [in the war in Ukraine], but on a sustainable basis," he emphasised.

At the same time, the head of Portuguese diplomacy acknowledged that diversifying Europe's dependencies, particularly in the economic field, is essential and that the first step towards this is to "deepen the relationship with Mercosur", but also with Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Arab countries.

The 3rd edition of the La Toja-Atlantic Link Forum is being held today at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. The forum aims to analyse the structural changes impacting Europe and the rest of the world.

Promoted by the La Toja Foundation, this edition centres the debate on Europe's role in the current geopolitical context, the opportunities and challenges in the new international panorama, and the importance of Iberian cooperation in a context of accelerated transformation.

PMC/ADB // ADB.

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