Release from the PCP Press Office

On the rejection by the British Parliament of the United Kingdom's European Union Withdrawal Agreement

Given the vote in the British Parliament of the terms of the so called United Kingdom's European Union Withdrawal Agreement, PCP:

— Underlines that the rejection by British Parliament of the terms of this so-called Agreement is inseparable from the pressures, blackmails and maneuvers that, both the EU and Great Britain institutions, sought and seek to defraud, pervert and, if possible, revert the decision of the British people to withdraw the UK from the EU, disrespecting their sovereign will;

— Recalls that the decision of the British people entails a profound sentiment of rejection of the European Union and its policies that attack the rights and aspirations of workers and different peoples of Europe and increase inequalities and asymmetries, and disrespect sovereignty;

— Condemns the political and ideological campaign that attempts to present the legitimate decision of a country to withdraw from the European Union as something "inevitably disastrous" and considers the negative declarations of the Portuguese Government as part of a renewed pressure to revert the British people's decision;

— Reiterates that the Portuguese Government should intervene resolutely, before the UK and EU authorities, to ensure the defense of Portuguese citizens' rights who work and live in that country – including, the right of residence, the right to equal treatment, the right to access public health and education services, the right to social security, the right to family reunification, the mutual recognition of academic degrees and professional qualifications;

— Considers that the Portuguese Government should also take the necessary initiatives to promote the conditions that ensure the development of mutually advantageous bilateral relations between Portugal and the United Kingdom, in the framework of respect for sovereignty and equal rights in each country, and for the rights and aspirations of the Portuguese and British people;

—Underlines that the defense of the interests of Portugal, the Portuguese people, under any scenario, should not be conditioned or questioned by any European Union impositions or constraints;

—Reaffirms its solidarity with British communists and other progressive forces who defend and intervene for a progressive project of UK withdrawal from the EU;

—Reiterates that the decision of the British people and the manner how the withdrawal process was conducted until now emphasize the urgent need to defend national sovereignty and another Europe of cooperation among sovereign States, equal in rights, a Europe of real cooperation, of solidarity, respecting the right to development, social progress and peace;

—Reaffirms the need and possibility of a rupture with the path of inequality, dependency and national abdication imposed upon Portugal and the Portuguese people for the European Union, and the centrality of the national imperative to build a patriotic and left-wing alternative that faces the submission to the Euro and the impositions of the European Union, recovering for Portugal the necessary instruments of sovereign development.

  • União Europeia
  • Central
  • Parlamento Europeu