Europe Day is celebrated this Thursday, May 9th, in a particularly challenging context for the European project. Thus, 74 years later, there are many challenges that threaten to jeopardize the union of the Member States, starting with the prolonged war in Ukraine, but also the challenges posed by climate change, the technological race and even the positioning of the European Union on the world geopolitical map. For all these reasons, the European elections on June 9th take on an importance the likes of which have not been seen for many years.
In a conversation with the Economic Newspaper, Ana Catarina Mendes, PS candidate for the European Parliament in the next European elections, has no doubts in stating that, 74 years later, “it is worth continuing to invest in the European project”. However, she emphasizes that we must “look at the European project with the challenges it faces today”.
“I think the main challenge facing [o projeto europeu] At this moment and in the current geopolitical context that we see, with a war on Europe’s doorstep, with the possibility of having Donald Trump in the United States again, with the war in the Middle East, it is absolutely essential that the European Union returns to assert itself as a very relevant geopolitical force in what the world will be like in the near future”, says the former minister, who is number three in the PS on the list for the European elections.
With the extreme right growing in several countries in the European bloc, the former Deputy and Parliamentary Affairs Minister of António Costa’s government, Ana Catarina Mendes, also highlights that it is necessary to think about “how the European Union can defend against attacks from Eurosceptics”, noting that “across Europe, the far right is using resentment, fear and hatred to undermine the European project”.
74 years later, how do you see Europe Day taking into account the moment we are living in?
The first note is that, 74 years later, it is worth continuing to invest in the European project, but with the challenges it faces today. I believe that the main challenge in the current geopolitical context (with a war on Europe’s doorstep, with the possibility of having Donald Trump in the United States again, with the war in the Middle East) is that it is absolutely essential that the European Union once again asserts itself as a very relevant geopolitical force in what the world will be like in the coming times. This has to do with the need for greater investment in economic, technological and scientific development. On the climate agenda, it is absolutely essential that we become autonomous, and the Ukraine war has shown the evidence of how we need to be autonomous, for example in natural gas. That is why what Portugal defended very recently, during the previous socialist government, with the need for a European natural gas corridor, so that we would not become dependent, was so important; strengthening and investing in renewable energy so that we do not depend on other countries and are self-sufficient; strengthening our security, be it security at our borders, and therefore the focus on defense and what should be the look at defense and how we move in this political context; food security, which is directly related to climate change. Basically, I would say that the next years of the European Union are about reaffirming the European project in terms of democracy, peace and freedom; strengthening the European project in the technological transition component and strengthening our scientific and technological development, and, therefore, qualified jobs, better wages, greater social justice; and strengthening our environmental independence, or autonomy, in essence, accompanying what the transitions to renewables and other energy sources should be; and, finally, it is absolutely essential that Europe finds new sources of financing in the coming years, to also guarantee greater independence and greater affirmation in the international geopolitical space.
How do you analyze the moment that the European Union is going through, in a context marked by the war in Ukraine, which has been prolonged? With the European elections just around the corner, is it increasingly important to promote the unity of this bloc?
It is absolutely essential. There is, in fact, a very interesting campaign by the European Parliament about what the European Union should be, reminding grandparents of the Holocaust and telling younger people that democracy is possible, security is possible, freedom is possible and so is peace. That is why it is necessary to look at this conflict in Ukraine by condemning and continuing to condemn Vladimir Putin’s attitude towards Ukraine, defending Ukraine and thinking about how the European Union can defend itself from the attacks of Eurosceptics. And these attacks from Eurosceptics come from the most extremists. Across Europe, the far right is using resentment, fear and hatred to undermine the European project. Therefore, I would say that more than ever, 74 years later, and with a war at Europe’s doorstep, like the one in Ukraine, it is absolutely essential that the European Union is more united, allow me to be pleonasm, that we manage to be stronger , that we overcome our differences, but that we can converge on what seems essential to me, which is what this project was created for, which from my point of view has been successful over the years and which must continue to be so, which is the political union project, European Union.
What can we expect from you in the European Parliament?
The Portuguese can count on me for what they have always counted on: my total commitment to defending institutions and defending democracy, and the European Parliament is par excellence the democratic body of the European Union. I will be a voice that will not remain silent in the face of what is happening to immigration and migratory flows. Europe is faced with an immense demographic dilemma and needs foreign citizens, but foreign citizens who turn to the European Union do so because they are fleeing hunger, poverty, war or dictatorships. We have to know how to have a humanist view and respect for the human rights of these people and know how to integrate them. What I have always defended in Portugal, which is a policy of integration and reception, I will continue to be an active voice in the European Parliament for this. But I believe that the European Parliament is facing several challenges, including economic governance, where a voice is needed, whether because we need to find new sources of financing, or because the rules that were approved last week, the new governance rules economic, need to be implemented and need to ensure that States are not penalized in the face of an excessive deficit, or that solutions can and should be found, as was found for the pandemic at the level of the PRR, or at the level of vaccines, or at the level of the health care needed to be given to people. We are in a moment of uncertainty. It is in this uncertainty that we will find the new European Parliament, but I will always be a fierce defender of democracy and better living conditions for the Portuguese.
