Can we beat the virus without freedom? Coronavirus 19 maybe; but the cryptofascism virus, no

President, Members of Parliament,

The Portuguese presidency of the European Union has a script that we can all imagine. The cloud of keywords that will identify the Portuguese semester will be very similar to that identified by the German presidency: recovery fund, pandemic, confinement, vaccines, economic crisis, unemployment.

It is true that the Portuguese presidency will open a new stage in relations with the United States and will have the opportunity to restore with President Biden everything that President Trump has broken. In this sense, we have full confidence in the ability and the Atlantic vision of Portugal.

But what worries me most is everything that is clouded by the pandemic cloud. I am referring above all to rights and freedoms. Human rights and democracy, seriously threatened today. The investment agreement with China should be immediately paralysed.

Please, Prime Minister, fight so that the pandemic does not make human rights and fundamental rights invisible. Can we beat the virus without freedom? Coronavirus 19 maybe; but the cryptofascism virus, no.