In the first half of 2021, the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union plans to strengthen relations with India and Africa.
One of the highlights of the Presidency is expected to be the informal meeting between the heads of state or government and the Prime Minister of India in Porto in May, at the invitation of the President of the European Council. If the meeting does take place in spite of the difficult health conditions, it will be the first summit between the 27 European leaders and the Indian government, according to Nuno Brito, Portugal’s ambassador to the EU.
According to the Presidency’s programme, the summit will be “an opportunity to modernise the EU-India partnership, based on strategic cooperation and political and economic dialogue, reciprocity and mutual benefit” (see EUROPE 12500/7). During a discussion with journalists based in Brussels, the ambassador explained: “We want to do this in order to diversify the EU’s relations and strengthen our ties with the world’s largest democracy and one of the world’s leading emerging economies”.
The Presidency of the Council of the EU also wants to strengthen relations with Africa. Its promise: “We will prioritise the preparation and organisation of the sixth EU-African Union Summit and its outcome”. Brito believes that “development, climate, energy, trade and migration are issues where Africa should be one of the EU’s partners”.
In partnership with the European Investment Bank, the Presidency will organise a high-level EU-Africa forum on the economy and green investments, to be held in Lisbon in April. Portugal states that the aim will be to discuss strengthening investment between the two continents, with a particular emphasis on the environmental and energy transitions, and to foster an effective partnership for economic development and job creation in Africa.
The economic recovery of “lower-middle-income” countries, particularly in Africa, will be a central priority during the Portuguese Presidency. “It should be based on creating mutually beneficial opportunities, notably in the areas of climate change, economic cooperation, inclusive and sustainable trade, and investment”, the programme states.
Deepening the strategic partnership with the Maghreb region and promoting security, stability and development in the Middle East and North Africa are other Portuguese priorities.
Portugal plans to continue the process of enlargement to the Western Balkans and “will work actively towards the organisation of the EU-Eastern Partnership Summit”. This might take place in Brussels on 3 February.
The Presidency is also focused on Latin America and, in addition to revitalising a bi-regional agenda, will seek to promote relations with sub-regional blocs in areas of common interest (see EUROPE 12237/25). Lisbon states that particular attention will be paid to concluding the negotiation processes for the revision of the Association Agreements with Mexico and Chile and the controversial agreement with Mercosur.
In more traditional fashion, transatlantic relations with the incoming Biden administration will be another priority, based on a new agenda (see EUROPE 12621/6). The Presidency’s programme states that “relations with the United States should be revitalised and geared towards tangible responses to global challenges”.
The Presidency notes that it will be the first to deal with the United Kingdom’s definitive withdrawal from the EU’s internal market and customs union, and promises that it will work to ensure that the provisional agreement reached on future relations between the two parties is finally adopted and then implemented.
More broadly, Portugal intends to work to strengthen multilateralism and confirm the EU as a global actor with a leading role to play in all important international agendas.
The Presidency’s programme can be found at: https://bit.ly/38Xm0oS (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)