The priorities of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU was the main topic discussed during the last day of the 142nd plenary session of the CoR. Marshal of the Podkarpackie region, Władysław Ortyl, underlined which issues in his view should require greatest attention from the EU in the challenging pandemic times.

Ana Zacarias, Secretary of State for European Affairs for the Republic of Portugal was the guest for the debate on the priorities of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU. Mr Ortyl actively took part in the debate on behalf of the ECR Group, referring to several issues that the Group felt required particular emphasis during the current presidency: protection of health, economic recovery, the European Emissions Trading System, illegal immigration and freedom of expression.

"The issue the Portuguese Presidency should address most urgently is to protect the health of Europeans. A global vaccine race is taking place before our eyes. Looking at the number of people who have been vaccinated, the EU is lagging behind countries such as Israel, the United Kingdom and Iceland. The European Commission has paid hundreds of millions of euro in advances, but pharmaceutical companies are not meeting their commitments. There have also been worrying reports that companies are sending vaccines outside the EU," he said. "The current situation is unacceptable. New legal arrangements are urgently needed for export controls and forcing pharmaceutical companies to supply the agreed doses of vaccines."

"The economic recovery of European countries that should take place through the Recovery Fund does not reflect real market needs", Mr Ortyl noted.

"The second priority of the Portuguese Presidency should be economic recovery. We are happy with the strong EU budget and the Recovery Fund, but we are worried about the rigidity of spending. 60% of the Fund's resources must be allocated to predefined objectives – primarily those related to the environment and digitalisation. The extent to which such a spending structure will contribute to the economic rebound is open to debate," said Mr Ortyl, adding that "the Recovery Fund was supposed to be easy and quick to use, but we can already see that it will be difficult and time-consuming to implement".

Another element is emissions trading, which Mr Ortyl believes needs to be revised. The European emissions pricing system has gotten out of control, which has a negative impact on the competitiveness of European industry."

Illegal immigration was another issue raised by Mr Ortyl: "The fight against illegal immigration should be stepped up. This problem has not disappeared. The EU should therefore be equipped with instruments to put pressure on third countries that are not cooperating in the field of migration."

The Marshal argued that the right to freedom of expression needed to be protected: "We must protect the right to freedom of expression. This topic has been overlooked in the priorities of the current presidency. We cannot allow freedom of expression to be arbitrarily restricted by technological giants. This is a threat to all politicians, including local and regional politicians," Marshal Władysław Ortyl said.

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