After Bulgaria, Portugal appears, along with Cyprus, as the
second country in the European Union (EU) where the population says they feel
the impact of the consequences of the war in Ukraine on their standard of
living. According to the European Parliament's Spring 2022 Special
Eurobarometer, published this Wednesday, 57% of the Portuguese believe that the
effects of the Russian invasion have already reduced their standard of living
and predict that this will continue throughout 2023, against 40% of the
Europeans who say they have already felt the consequences of the conflict.
But it is not only on this issue that the Portuguese
distance themselves from the majority of European citizens. As they are among
the first to say they feel the consequences of the war, they also look
differently at what the EU's priorities should be. While 59% of Europeans
believe that freedom and democracy should be a priority even if it affects
prices and the cost of living, only 49% of Portuguese want the same. In fact,
when asked whether maintaining prices and the cost of living should be a
priority even if it affects common European values, 45% of Portuguese believe
that it is, against the European average of 39%.
Pronounced
differences
The differences are even more pronounced in terms of what
they would like to see as the political priorities of the European Parliament.
At the top of the choices is the fight against poverty and social exclusion:
38% of Europeans chose this topic as a priority, against 66% of the Portuguese.
This is followed by public health (chosen by 53% of Portuguese against only 35%
of Europeans) and support for the economy and creation of new jobs, which is
prioritized by 52% of Portuguese against 30% of Europeans. Democracy and the
rule of law appear as the third priority in the European average, but for the
Portuguese they were the 11th choice.
As for the priority values that must be defended by MEPs,
the Portuguese favour the protection of human rights at EU and global level
(42% against 27% of Europeans), solidarity between Member States and their
regions (29% against 20% of Europeans) and democracy (28% against 38% of
Europeans).
It is not the consequences of war, it is consequences of the sanctions that impact the standards of living. The war is terrible and unjustified, but petrol prices rise because the supply has been artificially reduced by sanctions over Russian oil. The same is with electricity prices - reduced supply of gas. So let's not confuse what is the real reason
By Anatoly Sukhodolov from Algarve on 23 Jun 2022, 19:02
Please, do not call a war, when all of a sudden without any reason Russia started bombing Ukraine, murdering and raping people, "a conflict". Same as you would not call "a conflict" a mass shoot at school, right? It is a WAR, genocide of Ukrainian nation. And it is NOT just between these two countries. It is between Russia and the rest of the World. And the less resistance we all show right now, the more troubles this will cause in future - for every single person in the world. So the main issue now is, how to stop Russia in a way, that it will NEVER plan anything like this against any country in the world. And this evil has to be stopped ASAP. As right now it is with lives of best of Ukrainians that it is not spreading further than that yet
By Yaroslava Dotsenko from Lisbon on 24 Jun 2022, 16:44
Let´s be straight here: everyone tolerated/accepted Russia as long as it benefitted EU´s heavyweights (Germany´s gas supplies), as long as gvrts benefitted economically (locally? Pt Golden visas is an eg). Anatoly Sukhodolov and Yaroslava Dotsenko: I don´t know for how long either of you has been living in Portugal. When Russian ships crossed our seas on their way to Syria to help Bashar al-Asad kill his own ppl, Pt gvrt and our Naval Forces DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING; neither did the EU. For some of us the motivations and speech by both (EU, our Pt gvrt leaders) at the moment are extremely hypocritical. And surely you remember Biden provoking Putin days prior to the beginning of the Russia-Ukrainian war, how Mr. Zelenskyy pleaded with him to tone down his speech towards Putin? To no avail. So while I personally understand Ukraine´s wish to be an independent nation (meaning-i´m not supporting Putin´s actions), there´s so much here that is done for the wrong reasons (3rd parties in the Rus-Ukr war) that it´s hard not to gag. I´d rather explain this and be straight with you, unlike Pt/European leaders and Biden. If you had been looking at what was going on world stage news years prior to this, you´d understand these circumstances much better (how they came to be and why).
By guida from Lisbon on 25 Jun 2022, 04:31
Guida, the inaction of the EU and US against Russia in Syria should not be seen as a reason for further inaction. Not only would it be morally wrong to not support Ukraine, but it is clear by now that Putin's ambitions go beyond Ukraine. So not stopping Russia in Ukraine means that NATO will have to go to war against Russia at a later point to defend the Baltics.
I'm not sure what world news you're referring to but Russia has been on a path of conflict with the EU/US for a long time and its end goal is destruction of western democracy and subjugation of a Europe that it sees as weak. I'm pretty sure that's not a world Portuguese people or Europeans would like to live in.
By Anders from Lisbon on 29 Jun 2022, 11:46