In the Estonian capital, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is scheduled to meet with the Portuguese community on Friday afternoon and hold a bilateral meeting with his Estonian counterpart, Alar Caris, on Saturday, just before returning to Portugal.
The Arraiolos Group, an informal forum of non-executive EU Heads of State, founded by former Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio in 2003, is celebrating its 20th meeting in Tallinn. This year, the gathering includes Presidents from 11 countries and focuses on two main themes: “Artificial Intelligence: An Ally and Accelerator, Not an Enemy” and “Global Security: Presidential Reflections on Emerging Threats and Future Perspectives.”
During the meeting, which begins today with an official dinner of the Heads of State and continues throughout Friday, discussions will address the challenges of artificial intelligence, the situation in the Middle East, and European security, particularly the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine and the increasingly prevalent hybrid threats to European countries, according to a statement from the Presidency of the Republic.
Participating in the Tallinn meeting are 11 Heads of State: alongside Alar Caris and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, confirmed attendees include the Presidents of Austria, Alexander Van der Bellen, Bulgaria, Rumen Radev, Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Greece, Constantine Tassoulas, Italy, Sergio Mattarella, Latvia, Edgars Rinkevics, Poland, Karol Nawrocki, Slovakia, Peter Pellegrini, and Slovenia, Natasa Musar.
As he nears the end of his second term at the Palácio de Belém, with presidential elections scheduled for January 18, 2026, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will be attending the Arraiolos Group meeting for the last time. This marks his eighth participation, following meetings in Bulgaria (2016), Malta (2017), Latvia (2018), Greece (2019), Italy (2021), Malta (2022), and Porto (which he presided over in 2023).
The 2020 meeting, planned to be held in Lisbon, was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and last year, the President did not attend the meeting in Poland citing ongoing budget negotiations for the 2025 State Budget in Portugal.
The next Arraiolos Group meeting, with the new Portuguese President, is planned to take place in Hungary in 2026.
