"Diplomacia em Tempo de Troika" - Work by Luís de Almeida Sampaio launched at the Universidade Católica

A testimony about "one of the most difficult moments the country went through" and a "Portuguese vision" about Germany's role in the European project, since "nothing happens in the European Union without Germany's agreement". Words of José Manuel Durão Barroso at the launch of the book "Diplomacia em Tempo de Troika", by Luís de Almeida Sampaio.

The previous President of the European Commission, and director of the IEP-UCP's Center for European Studies, praised the importance of this book, whose preface is by Pedro Passos Coelho, by describing "in diplomatic detail the difficult time Portugal lived through."

The work, presented at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa on 4 October, is a personal testimony by Luís de Almeida Sampaio, head of the Portuguese diplomatic representation in Berlin during the Passos Coelho government, about diplomacy during the Troika period.

For the author, the troubled times the country went through during the Troika period had several heroes, highlighting the Portuguese people, the rulers of the time, the European institutions, and Portuguese diplomacy.

The diplomat also said that "we all have an obligation to contribute so that this does not happen again" and stressed: "we won, we did it, we Portuguese knew how to honor Portugal.

Former ministers of the Pedro Passos Coelho government, such as Maria Luís Albuquerque and Paulo Macedo, as well as several PSD leaders, Portuguese diplomats and the German Ambassador, Julia Monar, were present at the book presentation. Duarte Bárbara, director of Editora Leya and Mónica Dias, a lecturer at the Institute for Political Studies, were also present at the book launch.