1. The PCP acknowledges the honourable and responsible attitude of the UN Security Council (already public through the declarations of the British Ambassador to the UN) of not kneeling to the ultimatum and blackmail by the US and its European acolytes who, in a clear and unmistakable way, during the past months always set for the UN the role of a meek notary of the projects of aggression and plans of war, long drawn and decided by the Bush Administration.

2. The PCP reaffirms its deep conviction that the great majority of the Portuguese share a great indignation and revolt in the association of the name of Portugal to a Summit which represented the go-ahead for a cruel and devastating war, which tramples upon elementary principles of international law and can only aggravate to the utmost the factors of international tension and insecurity.

The PCP reaffirms as shocking and clamourously offensive to the feelings of the majority of the Portuguese people, the latest steps taken by the PSD-CDS/PP government, with its involvement in the Azores Summit, and which, in an irresponsible and unnecessary way, associated Portugal with the group of countries which, under Bush´s orders, will be historically blamed for the launching of a war with terrible political effects, dramatic human consequences and the worsening of the international economic situation with serious effects on the Portuguese economy.

The PCP also stresses that, knowing the differentiated positions of the President of the Republic, the Portuguese government’s agreement in holding the Summit on national territory, or the presence, as a junior partner, of Durão Barroso in that conclave, or even his declarations that if Portugal were part of the Security Council it would vote for a new Resolution, represent a deliberate attitude of an even clearer affront to the President of the Republic, which should not be tolerated.

3. The PCP stresses that it is even clearer today that, in both the Bush Administration’s and the Portuguese government’s declarations, the reference to political and diplomatic solutions, namely under the framework of the UN, can be seen as intended to escape isolation, as concessions they had to make to world public opinion against the war and as manoeuvres to try to hitch the Security Council to the unleashing of a so-called “preventive” war, but which would be totally illegitimate and illegal under the UN Charter itself.

It is even clearer today that the disarming of Iraq was never the real aim of the Bush Administration and that its main purpose was always to topple the Iraqi regime, set up an American protectorate and control its oil riches.

4. The PCP considers of the utmost cynicism that now, on the eve of launching a new war, the US puts forward promises for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when it is very much alive in the memory of the Arab world and world public opinion, the long complicity between the Bush Administration and Ariel Sharon´s criminal policy, with Israel’s disrespect for successive UN Resolutions and the bloody trampling of the national rights of the Palestinian people.

5. The PCP considers that it is indispensable to firmly condemn the government for its responsibilities in a policy which shames Portugal and which constitutes one of the darkest and discrediting moments of our country’s intervention in world affairs after 25th. April 1974, taken that the Portuguese government becomes associated with a war launched unilaterally against UN positions and which does not have the backing of Resolution 1441.

The PCP appeals to all Portuguese attached to the values of freedom, national dignity and peace to, besides other immediate forms of condemnation of the government’s attitude, ensure the success of the demonstrations which will take place in Portugal, in principle, on the first Saturday following the launching of the war, as they will all around the world.

Finally, and with the view of giving institutional expression to the popular indignation and protest against the government’s political involvement in the aggression against Iraq, the PCP announces that it will present a motion of censure to the government in the Assembly of the Republic, and considering the serious gravity of PSD-CDS/PP government’s behaviour in this crucial issue, it would fully justify that the opposition parties (PCP, PS Green and BE) reach an agreement on a common text.