King Felipe VI receives honorary doctorate from city’s university
Spanish king Felipe VI has been talking up defence in a visit to the city of Coimbra, where he received an honorary doctorate from the city’s renowned university.
Stressing the need for what he called a “Europe of security and defence”, he said it is a challenge that must be taken up “in an exercise of responsibility and memory” for the continent, and “to defend our own”.
As the EU moves on the 17th package of sanctions against Russia, King Felipe stressed the need to beef defence is “not against anyone, not against any regime or model” – it is simply a logical necessity in current times.
The king was in Coimbra, alongside Italian president Sergio Mattarella (who also received an honorary doctorate) in a ceremony presided over by Portugal’s president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
He reiterated that “what is at stake is not what Europe has, but what it is (…) How important it is to look ahead with confidence and conviction (…) But it is no less important to do so knowing and understanding our past, learning from what the 20th century represented for Europe.”
Throughout his speech, Felipe emphasised the “precious friendship” between Spain, Portugal and Italy, united as they are by the sea, the law and Europe.
“How important it is, in these confusing times, not to lose the compass of the democratic spirit,” he said. “And how important it is to remember this, precisely here, in this great European university, that nothing would be possible without that necessary value for research and education: freedom.”
After emphasising that these three countries are heirs to Roman law and certify the rule of law, he went on to say that “Europe is the child of Roman law, Greek philosophical thought, the Judeo-Christian tradition and the Enlightenment, as well as the spirit of reconciliation and improvement among Europeans after the devastating world conflicts of the first half of the 20th century.”
Europe, he said, is a house built on consensus and solidarity.
“Its pillars are solid because they were not designed to exclude or separate, but are based on the freedom and equality of its citizens” but aware of “the risks and evils of our time, whether they come from outside, or from our own European core”. (This last point no doubt alluding to the challenges being levelled at the current European administration by the rising Patriots alliance, powered by Hungarian president Vítor Orbán).
Source material: Lusa
