António Costa talks with former PM and European Commissioner Durão Barroso
Former Socialist prime minister and now president of the European Council, António Costa, has said today that the European Union has to show “nerves of steel” in its relations with Donald Trump’s United States, warning that the bloc stands ready to respond “if attacked”.
“We must keep our nerves of steel and continue the policy we have been pursuing of maintaining our dialogue with the United States on an institutional basis,” he said in conversation with former Portuguese prime minister José Manuel Durão Barroso who left Portugal to lead the European Commission in 2004.
“We focus our responses on key tweets and decisions,” Costa added, during the conference “Europe and Transatlantic Relations” organised in Lisbon by the NOW television channel.
Costa recalled that many of President Trump’s decisions “undergo revision, suspension, and/ or postponement during subsequent days,” and therefore the way forwards is to “constructively continue dialogue”. But “if someone attacks the EU, or subjects it to discriminatory measures, it will respond – and the European Commission is prepared, particularly in trade matters,” while seeking to “promote de-escalation.”
Costa also said that Europe “can stand between a confrontation between two blocs and has a great opportunity, and a duty, to develop a network of partnerships on a global scale” – citing Brazil, South Africa, India, Indonesia and Nigeria as examples.
These are players who, he stressed, “look to Europe with greater interest because of two essential values: predictability and trust” – values that are not always mirrored elsewhere.
Source: LUSA
