Konrad Adenauer's legacy praised by the President of Universidade Católica Portuguesa at the Estoril Political Forum

“Konrad Adenauer, the man this dinner honors, was inspired by the Catholic intellectual tradition and the Church's Social Teaching to construct a new story for Europe. One that was based on shared values and shared identities, not on political strife, social division and hate, inequity and repression".

These were the words of the President of Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Isabel Capeloa Gil, at the opening of the Konrad Adenauer Memorial Dinner. As usual, this event closed the Estoril Political Forum, which took place at the Hotel Palácio, from June 26 to 28.

Addressing those present, the President of UCP recalled that "the Magnet Europe, as he put it, is and was built as a story of trust. One that can only hold as all of us in this room continue to tell what must truly be a never-ending story".

In this 31st edition of the Estoril Political Forum, organised by the Institute for Political Studies of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, hundreds of speakers took part in a series of panels to debate what remains as the consensus in terms of Democracy, at a time of transformation of political systems, with the appearance of new political forces and the resurgence of populism.

In one of the panels, dedicated to the war in Ukraine, Maryna Mykhailenko, Ukraine's ambassador to Portugal, said that the insurrection of the Wagner Group shows that Russia is an "increasingly weak" country.

In her speech, the ambassador called on the West not to slow down on sanctions: "It is time to increase the pressure," she added.

Also speaking was Timothy Garton Ash, who has just released his latest book "Homelands - A Personal History of Europe". Another of the long list of works published by the author in the last thirty years, almost all of them about events that have marked the history of Central and Eastern Europe.

At the Estoril Political Forum, the renowned Oxford historian spoke about "a Europe whole and free" at a time when war is once again raging on the continent.

Another of the panels was dedicated to "Challenges for the future in Portugal", with the participation of former ministers Nuno Crato and Eduardo Marçal Grilo and journalists José Manuel Fernandes (Observador), Joana Reis (CNN) and Teresa de Sousa (Público), with a focus on questions from students about curricula, the ageing population, public and private education and the country's economic problems, among others.