A debut at the Arraiolos Group

On Friday, 16 October 2026, Portugal's President António José Seguro attended the 21st meeting of the Arraiolos Group in Brdo, on the outskirts of Ljubljana in Slovenia. It is his first time at the informal forum, which brings together presidents of EU member states who have no executive powers and was launched in 2003 by Jorge Sampaio. Eleven other EU heads of state were due to take part. Seguro's predecessor, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, had represented Portugal at eight earlier meetings. Slovenia hosts the group for the first time, and its presidency said the gathering takes place as the EU faces deep geopolitical, security, economic and social crises.

Cooperation on housing and energy

On arrival, Seguro made a short statement in English in which he said common problems need common solutions and that European citizens need a better Europe and more of it. He called for closer cooperation and political integration in housing, energy, security and defence, the technological transition and the response to the social crisis. The day before, on Thursday, 15 October, he had called for a national response to housing, describing it as a problem that needs a cross-cutting answer and urging understandings between parties. He said all political leaders have an obligation to put forward solutions.

A warning from the plenary session

Seguro's plenary intervention, held behind closed doors but made available to journalists, put the stakes in starker terms. He argued that nations face moments when they must decide whether to be carried along by events or to make history, and he placed Europe at such a point.

“I believe Europe has reached one of those moments.”

He described the return of war to the continent, a peace that many Europeans had taken for granted and that now demands determination, resources and courage, and harder competition between powers. He said Europe's economic and technological capacity is under pressure and that citizens who work and meet their obligations feel the future has become harder to reach. Europe, he argued, must choose between continuing to debate its differences and postponing hard decisions, or accepting that its security, prosperity and freedom depend on acting with resolve. Preserving integration means deciding in time. The housing question ran through the speech as well, and he warned in plain terms about what it could cost the bloc.

“A Europe in which so many young people cannot access a home risks losing the trust of the new generations.”

He also said that a Europe asking citizens for trust, sacrifice and patience must show that those efforts produce results, and that unity cannot be requested without showing what it makes possible.

The theme of the meeting

The Slovenian presidency set the central theme as the European Union in an era of multiple crises, asking whether the bloc will give up or persevere. According to a note released by host president Natasa Musar, the debate looks at how the EU can adapt to new circumstances without losing the democracy, human rights, rule of law, solidarity, cooperation and peaceful resolution of conflicts on which it was built. Seguro's first Arraiolos meeting therefore falls within a discussion focused on adaptation rather than on a single decision.