ECR Member Matteo Bianchi highlighted what he sees should be the main focus of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU during a debate with the Secretary of State for European Affairs of Portugal, Ana Zacarias. Mr Bianchi opened the floor by saying he is pleased "to note that the Portuguese Presidency wants the Conference on the Future of Europe to start as soon as possible".
For him, it is essential that the Conference leads to a "revision of the Treaties" to lay the foundations for a "new Europe".

Mr Bianchi, Member of Morazzone Municipal Council and Member of the Italian Parliament, continued to say that this revision must include an "awareness that Europe cannot exist without its local and regional authorities". In this context, he added that the institutional role of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) should be reviewed and given more "weight in the European decision-making process".

The ECR Member concluded by calling for a "pragmatic leadership" at European level – the pandemic has shown that "ideological leadership" no longer has a place. He reiterated the necessity for the EU to boost its role on the international scene, and in doing so the European position should be "uncompromising about its reference values and be easily recognisable".

The debate on the Portuguese Presidency took place during the CoR February plenary.​