The only important matter in which "we must all to provide the European Union with a budget "up to its ambitions" and that does not "weaken cohesion policy and agricultural policy common", defended the Prime Minister, on the eve of the European Council which began this afternoon in Brussels.In an interview given yesterday in Brussels, to the euronews, António Costa again pointed out that it is crucial to for the immediate future of Europe that the heads of state and government of the 27 Member States reach a sustainable agreement on the multiannual budget of the european union, considering that the discussion on the implementation of the respect for the rule of law may condition, as is the claim of some negotiations on the Community budget." The rule of the rule of law is enshrined in the Treaty and is essential VALUE of the EU, there cannot be an EU country that does not respect the rule of law.

Now, this principle, precisely because of its importance, cannot be applied exclusively when we are talking about budget. This principle has to be applied in general to the participation of each member state in the EU," he said. The essential mission that European leaders face extraordinary European Council, António Costa argued, is to provide the European Union with of a budget that "is up to its ambitions" and which does not "weaken neither the CAP nor cohesion policy." The important thing, he stressed, is that European leaders discuss the need for a clear compromise on the budget for 2021-2027, insisting that the essential point must be proposal placed on the table by the President of the European Council, proposal which reearned from the head of government Portuguese a total and absolute opposition, even considering it "bad in different senses". Strategic areasJustifying the reasons why the Government Portuguese the consider the proposal put forward by Charles Michel as "bad in many aspects", António Costa recalls that this is a proposal that "does not respond to overall financing needs", thesis which is in fact subscribed and "identified by the Commission and the European Parliament", as he said, defending the also leader of the PS that Europe cannot continue to "promise too much to Europeans and to deliver less." In this sense, António Costa again argued that the Cohesion Policy and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) "should not suffer any reduction", mainly because it is, as he pointed out, of two strategic areas not only for the "identity of the European Union", to bring it closer to more than the day-to-day lives of citizens, but also because these are areas that are "the biggest challenges facing Europe: the transition to digital society and climate transition", and none of these scenarios are be feasible "without greater cohesion and a good CAP". Although it is acknowledged that consensus needs to be found the "most possible," the Prime Minister did not, however, fail to argue that "it doesn't matter to adopt a bad deal just because of its urgency," recalling that "there is no contradiction" between "traditional policies and new policies", maintaining that all financial instruments "have to compete for strategic agenda and for a full agreement."