Pessimistic about EU future
For Pereira’s talk at the University of Macau, the main purpose of his visit, the former vice president of the European Parliament opened by explaining that he is “very pessimistic about the future of the European Union [EU],” and warned that: “You are not going to hear good news from me.”
He described the EU’s involvement in foreign wars, the divisive reaction of Member States to the tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, and the rise of radicalized elements within European politics as the result of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, from which “our present problems began.”
Separately Pereira added that the European economic crisis has affected the political sphere leading in many places to less democracy and the intensification of autocratic factions. “Whether they are of the left or the right, European electorates are increasingly deserting the center ground.”
As for Portugal, the financial crisis has caused the country and the government to look inward. This comes at the expense of attention paid to Portuguese communities abroad, such as those in Macau, but also to the Portuguese-speaking countries themselves.
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