The Arraiolos Group is a meeting of Presidents of European Union member states. The first meeting of the group, initiated by Portuguese president Jorge Sampaio was held in 2003 at Arraiolos, Portugal. Latvia hosted the meeting in 2018.
Levits participated in the press conference at the end of the event, and his contribution can be watched in the video above.
At the meeting, the President emphasized the importance of common European values in strengthening European strategic autonomy, saying:
"Europe is based on shared values. The values of the member states are not identical. There is also a certain pluralism, but there is a core of common values and even this core is the basis for our European identity, European character, why Europe is different from other parts of the world."
He also talked about the need for regulating digital technology, which he has mentioned many times in the past. Another topic was populism.
"The end station of populism is usually not autocracy but a failed state, and we should be very careful in order to see this threat and not to allow the temptation of populism," President Levits said.
Next up for the President is Germany on September 16 for a meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier alongside the Presidents of Estonia and Lithuania, to mark 30 years of diplomatic relations. Three of the four presidents were in Italy together yesterday for the Arraiolos meeting, but Lithuania's President Nauseda was absent.
