I would like to begin by underlining the timeliness of this initiative at a time when thousands and thousands of people are struggling to access or maintain housing. A situation that rightly worries so many men and women living in our country. It worries those who have a rented home and are faced with rent increases or risk eviction. It worries those who have loans and see the mortgage payments rise to unaffordable values. It worries the more than 70 thousand families who live without decent housing.

Following the decision by the European Central Bank (ECB) to increase the reference interest rate to 4%, after eight consecutive increases, anticipating a new increase in July, the PC´s MPs in the European Parliament took the initiative to promote a letter signed by several MPs from different Member States and political groups, addressed to the European Council, the European Commission and the European Central Bank. -/-   Hon. President of the European Council, Charles Michel

1. The PCP considers of enormous gravity the decision to exclude from 5G networks – for alleged security reasons –the technology of countries that are not part of NATO, the EU, or the OECD. This decision, which goes even further than what was "demanded" of the country by the US and the EU (in an unacceptable exercise of external imposition), is directed against countries like Brazil, China and India, which are not only some of the largest world economies but also traditional partners, with whom Portugal has developed economic relations for a long time.

We are in a situation where war is spreading across the world, from Syria, to Sudan, in Palestine, Yemen, Ukraine, with a dimension that we all know well. And what is being asked at this moment is to create all the conditions to put an end to war and give an opportunity for peace, like the call for this initiative today.