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The colors of the European Union (EU) will illuminate Lisbon tonight to mark the start of the Portuguese presidency, with an official start scheduled for Tuesday with a grand opening concert and the visit of the President of the European Council.
Today at 8:00 p.m., the main façade of the São Bento Palace, headquarters of the Assembly of the Republic, will be illuminated with the colors of the EU, blue and yellow, and the flags of the 27 member states will be raised, “to give the best – Welcome to all European parliamentarians and citizens ”to the initiatives that the RA will promote during the semester in which Portugal holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The lights of Parliament will remain on for the first night only.
Four hours later, at 00:00, the lights of the Arco da Rua Augusta, located in Praça do Comércio, at the entrance of the most frequented pedestrian street of the Portuguese capital, will be turned on, remaining connected until dawn, which is repeated January 1, from sunset to 11:59 p.m.
That same day, the program will be announced on the official website of the presidency (https://www.2021portugal.eu/).
The official start will only take place on Tuesday, with the visit to Lisbon by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the day that ends with a great concert at the Centro Cultural de Belém (CCB).
Charles Michel’s visit has “a very diversified program,” Prime Minister António Costa explained to Lusa on Wednesday.
“There is a part of the working meetings, there will be a part of the public presentation of the Portuguese presidency, made between the president of the Council and myself, and it will end with the inaugural concert of the presidency,” explained the Prime Minister.
António Costa also said that the end of the ‘Portuguese semester’ will be marked with another concert, scheduled for June 10, Portugal Day, in Brussels, to allow “also to associate the then President of the Republic in office with this symbolic moment closing of the presidency ”, in a day also dedicated to the Portuguese abroad.
The opening concert, in the large auditorium of the CCB, takes place at 6:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on RTP, according to a note from the Ministry of Culture.
Organized as part of the centenary of Amália Rodrigues, the concert brings together orchestra and fado and features the performance of the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the director Joana Carneiro, and the fado singers Carminho, Ana Moura, Sara Correia and Camané, and guitarist Marta Pereira da Costa.
Still in January, on the 14th and 15th, Lisbon receives the traditional visit of the college of commissioners, the Brussels executive chaired by Ursula von der Leyen, at 20 the Prime Minister will present the program of the presidency to the European Parliament and, “soon next ”, to the Economic and Social Council.
All the meetings that António Costa hopes to be able to carry out in person: “For now, what is planned is that everything is in person.”
The culminating point of the semester in which Portugal leads the EU ministerial councils will be, according to the Government, the Social Summit scheduled for 7 and 8 May in Porto, coinciding with the EU-India Summit, which will also take place on 08, in Porto, and must bring together the leaders of the 27 and the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
But there will be several “landmark moments” before, the first of which already on February 2-3, in Lisbon, with the launch of the Horizon Program, the EU’s research and innovation framework program, which will take place in conjunction with a meeting high-level science ministers, Nobel laureates and business leaders, according to a document distributed in recent weeks to the social partners.
Also in February, but still to be confirmed, a high-level Conference on the Climate Law is scheduled, currently in the approval process and that establishes a new target of 55% cuts in CO2 emissions by 2030 in relation to the levels 1990.
Other “landmark moments” mentioned in the document are a Green Hydrogen Conference, in April, and a high-level Conference on digital education, on June 1-2, at which the Lisbon Declaration on democracy and rights must be signed. digital data, the European Atlantic data platform was launched and the submarine fiber optic cable between Sines and Fortaleza (Brazil) was opened.
Also in June, the Azores will host a conference on the sustainability of the oceans on 03 and 04.
The evolution of the covid-19 pandemic in Europe will determine the format of the multiple scheduled meetings, the Government providing that the decision to hold them in person or by videoconference may be taken two or three weeks before the date, although always with the ambition of perform them. face-to-face meetings throughout the country, including the autonomous communities.
Under the slogan “It is time to act: for a fair, green and digital recovery”, Portugal has been in practice since Friday, January 1, 2021, and for the fourth time since joining.
The Portuguese Government receives the presidency of the EU from the ‘hands’ of Germany, which was forced during its semester, the second of 2020, to postpone several meetings and hold the vast majority of Councils by videoconference, before the outbreak of 19.
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