The first panel had diplomats as speakers: João Vale de Almeida and Rita Faden
Nuno Fox
The morning started out wintery in Cascais, with the strong west wind stirring the sea near the Cascais Citadel. The political winds from the West, coming from the United States, also greatly shake the planet. The theme resonated strongly at the VI Cascais Meetings, and dominated them in an almost transversal way.
The post-American election world and its effects on Portugal were the first topic of discussion.
After an hour and a half of interventions, questions and debate, the tone was not at all optimistic. How much “realistic/skeptical”. Here and there, the question remains to be seen to what extent the result of the American elections could mean an opportunity (or wake up call) for Europe… and even for Portugal.
We start by looking at what happened on November 5th.
Big win for Trump. He won everything there was to win: The election, the popular vote, the Senate, the House of Representatives. And it has a clear majority in the Supreme Court. It therefore has a clear path to implementing its policy. Also a great victory for populist discourse and a great defeat for woke discourse. Still a big defeat for Kamala Harris. It was a great victory for unilateralism and transactionism (“Trump’s logic is always the same: what’s in it for me?”) At the same time, it was a victory for formal democracy, with accepted results and a smooth transition. But it was also a defeat for the quality of democracy and decency in politics.
Source: expresso.pt
