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In an interview with the Lusa agency on the eve of her first official visit to Portugal as president of the community executive, Ursula von der Leyen affirms that “Portuguese citizens have fought very bravely and disciplined against the virus and have even been more successful than others “, and can count on the support of the EU, which will also help to” boost “the recovery of the Portuguese economy.
“The European Union will ensure that the Portuguese, European citizens and people around the world have access to a future vaccine. And the EU will also be on the side of the Portuguese to recover from the economic crisis”, guarantees the President of the Commission .
Maintaining that NextGenerationEU, the recovery fund proposed by its executive and agreed by European leaders at a lengthy summit last July, gives Europe “the opportunity not only to repair the damage and recover from the current situation, but to shaping a better way of life “, Von der Leyen emphasizes that” Portugal will be an important beneficiary “.
According to the commitment reached last July, Portugal will receive 15.3 billion euros in grants (non-reimbursable), including 13.2 billion euros, by 2023, through the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, the main instrument of the Recovery Fund.
According to the President of the Commission, the support Portugal will receive “will provide the means to boost the recovery of the Portuguese economy, based on the dual ecological and digital transition, while ensuring that no one is left behind.”
Asked about the particular impact that the Covid-19 crisis had on Portugal as one of the countries where Gross Domestic Product depends the most on tourism, one of the most affected sectors, Ursula von der Leyen points out that “all Member States, both Big and small, the economically stronger and less strong, felt their vulnerability during this crisis ”.
“The current crisis has affected all Member States, albeit differently, and we have to work hard to make our economies more resistant to external shocks,” he says, in the written interview with Lusa.
According to the German official, “the ‘NextGenerationEU’ instrument was designed to take account of these differences” and “many of the measures adopted by the Commission are specifically directed at the tourism sector, which is so important for countries like Portugal”.
“Earlier this month, the Commission adopted a proposal to ensure that measures taken individually by Member States and restricting free movement due to the coronavirus pandemic are coordinated and clearly communicated at the EU level. We hope that this proposal may be adopted soon by the governments of the Union “, He recalled, referring to the efforts of Brussels to safeguard the Schengen area of free movement and, consequently, also to protect the tourism sector, particularly affected by border closures and other restrictions that Member States have been adopting unilaterally since last month of March.
Ursula von der Leyen will begin on Monday in Lisbon, for a two-day visit, the first since she assumed the presidency of the Commission in December 2019, and during which she will participate in a session, on Tuesday, at the Champalimaud Foundation, with the President of the Government, António Costa, in which they will present the European and Portuguese recovery plans respectively.
Even before this session, the Prime Minister and the President of the European Commission will visit the Ricardo Jorge Institute, a Valencia that has been at the forefront of the fight against covid-19.
During her presence in Portugal, Ursula von der Leyen, participates this Tuesday, at the invitation of the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in the meeting of the Council of State, which will debate the situation and the future of Europe, and is scheduled to the Palace of the Citadel of Cascais, district of Lisbon.
