Regarding the global security situation, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa noted that there was unanimity among the 11 heads of state present at this informal forum on “support for Ukraine, support for the Ukrainian people, support in all dimensions, and the importance of support at this moment and in the coming moments.”
“We are entering the winter, and winter is a very difficult period for situations of war. It’s a very long war with exhausting and saturating effects from a military standpoint, but also from a human and psychological perspective,” he observed.
On the Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a debate was held in light of developments this week, with the agreement between Israel and Hamas on the first phase of a peace plan. He commented that in the Arraiolos Group, there was “on one hand, satisfaction and joy” and, on the other hand, “attention and hope that a process which is long, difficult, and complex might proceed successfully.”
“We are at the beginning of the beginning, or almost at the beginning. The beginning has already been there, but truly materializes at the start of next week [with the release of all hostages]. But after that, there are many steps, and it is necessary for these many steps to meet expectations,” he said.
Lastly, concerning the challenges of Artificial Intelligence, he emphasized unanimity “especially in one aspect: it should start with the youngest ones, [with] education, education, and education for that, in its benefits and to avoid risks.”
The meeting in Tallinn was attended by 11 heads of state: apart from Alar Karis and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, 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, were confirmed.
This XX meeting of the Arraiolos Group, an informal forum of heads of state of the European Union (EU) without executive powers, was the eighth and last for Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, following those in Bulgaria (2016), Malta (2017), Latvia (2018), Greece (2019), Italy (2021), Malta (2022), and Porto (which he chaired in 2023).
At the next meeting, scheduled for 2026 in Hungary, the President elected in the presidential elections scheduled for next January will participate.
In Tallinn, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is also scheduled to meet with the Portuguese community today, and on Saturday, before returning to Lisbon, he will hold a bilateral meeting with his Estonian counterpart, Alar Caris.
