On November 29, Friday, President of the European Council Charles Michel officially handed over his powers to former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa.
During the ceremony, which took place at the European Council building in Brussels, Michel said that leading the European Council had been “the honor of his life” and wished his successor good luck in his new position.
In his speech, Kosta partially in French, thanked Michel and emphasized that his main goal as President of the European Council would be to preserve “the unity of Europe in its diversity.”
He also mentioned the ongoing full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has been going on for 1,010 days, and noted that peace cannot be achieved at any cost. “Peace cannot mean surrender. Peace should not reward the aggressor. Peace in Ukraine must be fair, lasting and based on international law,” said Costa.
He added that the European Union must reaffirm its reputation as a peace project by becoming “stronger, more effective, more resilient and more autonomous in security and defense.”