Brussels, July 2, 2025 (Lusa) – European Council President António Costa believes that the current changes in Europe correspond to political cycles, “more to the left or more to the right”, and some countries organise elections within less than one electoral cycle.

“As a rule, countries hold elections every four years, and some countries shorten these political cycles and hold elections in less than four years,” António Costa told Lusa in an interview taking stock of the first six months of his term as President of the European Council.

The Portuguese politician responded to a question about the shift to the right in European politics and the evolving landscape of social democracy, of which Portugal offered one of the latest examples.

For António Costa, history has shown that political cycles follow one another, “sometimes voters vote more to the left, sometimes they vote more to the right,” so we have to wait for the next electoral cycles.

“Cycles are like that, sometimes there are dominant forces, then there are other forces, this is called democratic alternation,” he said.

Six months into his current position, the politician believes that his fundamental role is to “focus the political debate” of the 27 heads of state and government that make up the European Council, leading the work so that “everyone tends to have a common position on the various issues”.

To this end, he has innovated by limiting meetings to just one day, freeing up time for what he says is important: having a “richer and more in-depth political discussion (...), which is essential for us to reach agreement.”

“We are talking about a Union of 27 States that look at the world from very different geographical positions, with very different cultures, which belong to the most diverse political families. Therefore, what is truly extraordinary is that, with all these differences, we consistently want to remain together, to decide together, and we reach agreement 99.9% of the time,” he stressed.

Admitting that he now has a different view of Europe than when he was prime minister – “before, I saw it from Portugal and its interests” and now he has “the perspective of the general interest” – António Costa says that, thanks to Europe’s resilience amid various challenges, Europe has fulfilled its role.

As examples, he cites the pandemic, the inflationary surge and now a potential trade war with its main trading partner: this “is also new and Europe is seeking to manage this situation”.

“Europe provides certainty, stability and predictability in this world of uncertainty,” he stresses, underlining that in today’s multipolar world, Europe’s role is to “defend a rules-based international system, defend multilateralism and (…) commit to developing a network of multipolar relations in the world.”

It is in this context that he cites the various summits held recently with the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa, Central Asian countries and the Western Balkans, and other summits with Japan, China, Brazil, Latin American and Caribbean countries and the African Union will follow in the second half of the year.

For the President of the European Council, the intensity of international relations has been “truly impressive”, which makes the world see Europe as a loyal, predictable and reliable partner.

António Costa continues to defend the idea that the European Union is a “multifunctional building”, in which each country fits in as it sees fit, because this dynamism is “the way Europe has been built”.

‘If we want to move further into new areas in the future, it is natural that this multifunctionality will develop within the Union. This issue will necessarily shape debates in the coming period, given that, in parallel with the reforms that candidate countries must carry out to achieve enlargement, the European institutions must also reform internally to accommodate it,’ he concluded.

On 1 December 2024, António Costa began his two-and-a-half-year term as President of the European Council, marking the first time a socialist and a Portuguese national have held this position.

LM/ADB // ADB.

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