Former Portuguese Prime Minister hopes that members of European Council will take "good decisions"

Lisbon (Portugal), June 18 (EFE).- Former Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa did declined to comment this Tuesday on the possibility of assuming the presidency of the European Council and simply expressed his wish that its members take "good decisions" for the future of the continent.

CAMERA: SUSANA SAMHAN.

FOOTAGE OF THE PARTICIPATION OF THE FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF PORTUGAL, ANTONIO COSTA, IN A DEBATE ORGANIZED BY THE ABREU ADVOGADOS LAW FIRM IN LISBON, PORTUGAL.

STATEMENTS OF ANTONIO COSTA, FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF PROTUGAL.

TRANSLATION:

1. "Yesterday, about the (European) Council, I am not going to comment, we were already enough in the Council to know how difficult the work of the Council is and the only thing I wish is good work and good decisions for the future of Europe".

2.- "As for Ukraine, I think it is excellent news that the decision has been taken to open negotiations. These negotiations must be carried out with all loyalty and with all commitment in order to have a good success and as I said recently in my speech, the accession process does not only depend on the work that Ukraine has to do, it does not only depend on the work that each one of the countries has to do, success also depends on the work that we ourselves do to prepare the Union properly".

3.- "In relation to our own resources, I think we must have a lot of imagination, the fact that we have our own resources does not mean new taxes. In summary: either there are more transfers from the States to the Union, which means, than with the same taxes or more taxes from the different states, there are more transfers for the Union, or we find new forms of Union that have not been found so far."

4.- "We have to increase investment in defense, this means simultaneously strengthening Europe's economic base, because if we do not strengthen Europe's economic base it will be difficult for our open and democratic societies to be sustainable. For a long time, there will be a great growth in investment in defense when all member states are going to have to make an effort to keep public finances stable and those that do not have them will have to make an effort to stabilize them."