“It is a very important demonstration of support, especially because it comes from the parliaments themselves. When we have parliaments from various countries, even quite polarized ones, it signifies a very unanimous and consensual support across ideological dimensions, expressed in these countries’ parliaments, for the Ukrainian cause,” stated Aguiar-Branco.
Aguiar-Branco made these remarks to RTP and SIC-Notícias upon arriving by train in the Ukrainian capital, where he will participate in a summit of parliamentary presidents, pay tribute to the victims of the Bucha massacre by Russian troops, and meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Portuguese Assembly of the Republic’s president was greeted by his Ukrainian counterpart, Ruslan Stefanchuk, upon his arrival in Kyiv.
Aguiar-Branco traveled accompanied by the deputy and former parliamentary leader of the Socialist Party, Eurico Brilhante Dias, who is currently the president of the Portugal-Ukraine Friendship Parliamentary Group.
“It is an opportunity to reinforce the support of so many presidents from such diverse parliaments for the Ukrainian cause,” declared Aguiar-Branco, who views this as “an important part of what is known as parliamentary diplomacy.”
In this diplomatic dimension, he continued, “one can see that the plurality of society, reflected in the parliaments, has a significant expression and even increases the universe of citizens who support the Ukrainian cause.”
This was the only external trip that José Pedro Aguiar-Branco kept on his official agenda after President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa dissolved the parliament on the 19th following the rejection in parliament of the confidence motion presented by the PSD/CDS-PP government, led by Luís Montenegro.
In Ukraine, the first item on the agenda for the president of the Assembly of the Republic this morning is a ceremony in honor of the victims of the tragedy in Bucha, a city near Kyiv.
In April 2022, following the withdrawal of Russian troops from Bucha, reports and images of various atrocities began to emerge. More than 300 bodies were found, and Ukraine has requested the International Criminal Court to investigate these war crimes.
After the ceremony honoring the Bucha victims, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco will participate in a summit of parliamentary presidents in Kyiv and subsequently meet with the Ukrainian head of state, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Before returning to Lisbon, the president of the Assembly of the Republic will attend a dinner hosted by the president of the Ukrainian Parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk.
In his recent comments on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco has criticized “the illusion” of immediate peace at any cost and insisted that the solution must be based on international law.
“Russia initiated a large-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago. There is an aggressor and there is a victim. Ukraine is the victim,” emphasized the former social-democratic minister in a recent speech.
