António Costa’s comments came after the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, said at a news conference in the early hours of Friday, that after “a wide-ranging discussion about Russia” EU leaders were clear that “Russia’s strategy is to weaken the European Union”, but that the EU would maintain its unity.
Prime Minister Costa, for his part, made it clear that Portugal is not happy with the approach to Russia in recent months.
“Portugal has understood that we must move more to the phase of cooperation than to the phase of sanctions,” he said at a news conference in Brussels after a summit of EU leaders. “Sanctions, indeed, have had a quite doubtful efficacy, and so far as we are concerned they have penalised several economic sectors.
“It is not our ambition to maintain those that exist, much less extend them to new sanctions,” he concluded.
At the end of the first work session of this European Council meeting, the leaders adopted a declaration calling for a ceasefire in the Syrian city of Aleppo, and the opening of a corridor for humanitarian aid. Against that backdrop, Costa argued, the “dialogue that has been pursued in different formats is essential” and “the EU wants a relationship without conflict with Russia ... of partnership, of neighbours who respect one another and together can help peace and stability.”
He agreed, though, that it was important that the EU maintained “a united position” on the subject.