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Council of State met in Belém

The President of the Republic held a meeting of the Council of State

The President of the Republic chaired the meeting of the Council of State, called for the purpose of analysing the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the European Union during the second half of 2007. When the meeting was over the following notice was made public:

"The Council of State, with His Excellency the President of the Republic in the Chair, met today, in the Palace of Belém, where it analysed the coming Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, commencing on July 1 of this year.

The President of the Republic invited the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, to be present at this meeting of the Council of State.

The Councillors assessed the challenges faced by the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, considering the current political, economic and social conditions, and with particular concern for the institutional issues.

The high level demands of the agenda of the Portuguese Presidency were discussed as well as the relevance of the issues therein included regarding the future of European integration and the need to assure the role of the European Union as a credible international player.

In this context, the relevance of the Portuguese Presidency of the European Union was highlighted and, similarly to what occurred in 1992 and 2000, that this should be assumed as a national objective, which demanded a mustering and a convergence of all sovereign bodies, political forces and civil society institutions.”