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French President Emmanuel Macron began a two-day state visit to Portugal to strengthen bilateral ties and encourage European unity as the fate of Ukraine remains uncertain under an increasingly critical Trump administration.
French President Emmanuel Macron began a two-day state visit to Portugal on Thursday where he was greeted by Prime Minister Luis Montenegro.Macron and his wife Brigitte received a welcoming ceremony outside the Jeronimos Monastery in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon. Macron was later welcomed by his Portuguese counterpart Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa after the ceremony.The French president’s trip to Portugal looks to boost bilateral ties between Paris and Lisbon and deepen European unity in a period of uncertainty.European leaders have been urging for increased unity and cooperation after a dramatic shift in Washington’s foreign policy following the return of Donald Trump to the White House.Tensions between Europe and their longtime allies across the Atlantic have soared after US President Donald Trump adopted an increasingly critical world view in his second term.In his just over one month in office, Trump has put European security in question multiple times by threatening to pull the US out of NATO if European countries don’t increase their defence spending, threatened to levy tariffs on the EU, as well as seemingly abandoning Ukraine after Russia launched a full-scale invasion more than three-years ago.Trump has also reignited direct talks between Washington and Moscow, as he looks to secure a peace deal to end the fighting in Ukraine. The situation got worse when the US president expressed that Brussels will not be involved in the peace negotiations.Macron visited Trump in Washington just a few days ago to urge the US president to continue supporting Ukraine, and explained what’s at stake. Trump is also set to hose Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday.“I confirm that he [Donald Trump] will receive him [Zelenskyy] tomorrow (Friday) if all goes well and I think that’s great. And I’ll always try to be there to make things easier but Ukraine is an important fight for us,” explained Macron.“It’s important Zelenskyy should also be able to explain to President Trump what is at stake in his country, and I tried to explain last Monday how important this is for us and also to remind him of the importance that the transatlantic link can have.”Macron says European more than ever have to be united and strong, to rise together in the face of this uncertainty.The French president will visit Porto on Friday where he will sign a range of bilateral agreements that touch on political, economic and security issues.Macron and Montenegro are also likely to discuss European defence and security.
