On 25 November 2020 TEPSA presented the TEPSA Recommendations to
the Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, Ambassador Ana Paula Zacarias.
On the occasion of TEPSA’s Portuguese Pre-Presidency Conference, the TEPSA Recommendations to the upcoming Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union were formally presented to Ambassador Ana Paula Zacarias, Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs by Ilke Toygür, TEPSA Board Member and contributor to the recommendations.
The Portuguese Presidency is well advised to aim at accomplishing three things:
- Finishing unfinished business including on the decisions taken during the German Presidency,
- Setting a mark of its own focusing on a resilient, social and green Europe, and
- Successfully initiating relations with the new Biden administration restoring faith in the transatlantic relationship.
Lisbon should not forget to remind itself of the pre-COVID-19-agenda and aim for setting its own mark. Furthermore, four policy areas can be identified as privileged playing fields of the Portuguese Presidency and hence deserve more detailed recommendations: The New Pact on Migration and Asylum, Digitalisation, EU-Africa relations, and EU-Mercosur Association Agreement.
Upon reading the Recommendations, the Ambassador commented on the “link between our work to prepare the Portuguese Presidency and your TEPSA Recommendations. I have read them with great interest”. Nicoletta Pirozzi, TEPSA Board Member and joint coordinator of the regular TEPSA Recommendations along with Funda Tekin and Ilke Toygür, noted the importance of this document: “With this set of recommendations produced by TEPSA, we point out at immediate actions to complete the unfinished work of the German Presidency – including the implementation of Next Generation EU, the launch of the Conference on the future of Europe and the settlement of the relations with post-Brexit UK. But we also look at medium term initiatives for sustainable, green and digital development, and the EU’s global role, with special focus on Biden’s US, Latin America and Africa. An ambitious but inescapable agenda for post-2020 Europe.”
-ENDS-
Read the TEPSA Recommendations to the Portuguese Presidency.
Read the Full Press Release.
Press enquiries to Hugh Evans.
