Portuguese foreign minister calls for EU defence and enlargement budget boost

4 months ago 20

The European Union’s long-term budget needs to be strengthened to cover defence spending and enlargement, Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel said on Monday as he pointed to EU enlargement being difficult negotiation-wise.

Speaking to the media after taking part in the European Commission’s “Annual Conference on the EU Budget 2024 – Looking ahead: the EU budget of the future” in Brussels, Rangel commented on the conference being the first major discussion on the EU’s next financial framework (2028-2034).

“We were very clear: we think there has to be an increase in the budget, given the situation the European Union (EU) is in, so that we can respond to the triple transition — digital, environmental and social — and so that we can have the issue of defence guaranteed and the issue of enlargement’ and competitiveness,” the foreign minister said.

Rangel also proposed a “two-pillar budget” of flexibility and predictability to ensure, respectively, funds for Ukraine and for countries that benefit most from cohesion and agricultural funds, such as Portugal.

As “another problem” he highlighted the reimbursement of the National Recovery and Resilience Plans funds, after the end of the programme, expected in 2026, warning of a “large bill, which cannot be paid at the expense of the [current] budget and, therefore, there will have to be an increase.”

“I think there is an agreement — an agreement not between the countries, but between those who are launching this discussion — so that there is proper diversification of the EU’s resources,” he said.

Rangel was also pleased that Portugal, along with Belgium, Croatia, Poland and Austria, has been invited to participate in the discussion, giving it “a say” in what is still “very preliminary” and will not officially begin until mid-2025.

Talking about possible “ways forward,” the head of Portuguese diplomacy spoke of measures such as a new joint debt issue, similar to the one that was made to finance the post-crisis measures of the COVID-19 pandemic.

When asked about the EU enlargement process, the foreign minister said he had “very positive expectations,” but said that “it’s a difficult matter in terms of negotiation.”

“I think we have to give a very clear political signal that we are in favour of enlargement, [but] we have to create the conditions in the states that want to become members of the European Union and in the EU itself, so that enlargement can take place as quickly as possible,” concluded Rangel, alluding to the possible expansion to Ukraine and other countries.

(Ana Matos Neves – Lusa.pt)