Lisbon, Jan. 30, 2025 (Lusa) - The speaker of Portugal's parliament has invited Enrico Letta, Mario Draghi and Sauli Niinistö, the authors of three reports on the future of the European Union, to meet with members of the assembly.

The information is contained in the summary of a parliamentary leaders' conference that took place on 22 January, which states that the first of the planned meetings is to take place on the morning of 26 February and will have as its guest Letta, a former prime minister of Italy, president of the Norte Europe institute and coordinator of a report on the future of the EU's internal market.

The same summary states that the speaker of Portugla's Parliament, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, also intends to invite Niinistö, a former president of Finland and author of a report on EU security, as well as Draghi, another former prime minister of Italy and author of a recent report on European competitiveness, who attended Wednesday's meeting of Portugal's Council of State at the invitation of the country's president, who chairs the body.

Aguiar-Branco said at last month's leaders' conference that he intends to invite all members of parliament to attend the meetings, “in view of the interest shown during the plenary session dedicated to the three reports on the future of the EU” that was held on 4 December at the request of the Livre party, as well as the interest shown by parliament's committee on European affairs.

In his report, Letta - the only one of the three already scheduled to appear before parliament - advocates joint debt issuance by the EU with clear repayment plans, loans on favourable terms, and support from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to finance EU spending on security and defence.

In the document, the former prime minister of Italy states out that "an intense debate on the issue of defence Eurobonds is gaining ground in the EU" that he believes could serve to "rapidly mobilise significant resources on the one hand and promote the development of collaborative projects on the other, thus facilitating a gradual transition to a unified market."

His report was released at a time when it is estimated that member states need some €100 billion to fill investment gaps in defence and security spending and to strengthen capacity and support Ukraine in the wake of the Russian invasion that began in February 2022.

TYRS/ARO // ARO.

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