Anexo VI – Intervenção da Deputada Emília Cerqueira (PSD) sobre economia (em inglês)

1st draft speech for Hon. Francisco Rocha

Member of the Delegation of the Assembleia da República to PAM

Session of the 2nd Standing Committee on Economic, Social and Environmental

Cooperation

Report and Recommendation on the «Economic impact of COVID-19 in the Mediterranean

and Gulf regions in 2020: the policy response for an effective recovery» – prepared by Hon.

Ljubica Maksimčuk (Croatia).

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear colleagues,

I would like to begin by congratulating Honourable Ljubica Maksimčuk for her excellent work on this

Report and Recommendation, which I endorse.

I also wish to express my appreciation to PAM for the valuable initiatives and partnerships with key

stakeholders that have been established, which will be fundamental in the recovery stages.

The world we live in today is significantly different from the one in which last year’s Plenary Session

took place. The damaging effects of the disease on economic sectors and our living standards are

unprecedented and will have long-lasting effects.

And yet, we must consider that the economic impact of COVID-19 is not the same among the

Mediterranean countries. Countries that were already in weaker economic conditions are now in

even more fragile circumstances.

Several companies, in all sectors, have already gone bankrupt; others risk the same fate, which has

already resulted and will result in job and income losses, that will mainly affect women and young

people.

Attention must also be paid to access to new information and communication technologies (ICT).

COVID-19 pushed the need for digitisation of the economy and services to the top of the priorities of

the Euro-Mediterranean agenda. And yet again, access to these tools is not equitable and hinders

the development of the most fragile.

The pandemic has brought «temporary» benefits to the environment, such as reduced gas

emissions. But the pressure on land and marine biodiversity remains, and we cannot ignore it.

The post-pandemic should be accompanied by a repositioning of societies regarding their mode of

organisation, behaviours and lifestyles, and by economic transformation, evolving towards a fairer,

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