Since the start of the 2022 Russian attack on Ukraine, the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) has come under the limelight for being the only political party represented in the European Parliament to have evaded a clear denunciation of Russia from the beginning, preferring instead to repeatedly condemn the United States, the European Union, and NATO for the war.
MEP João Oliveira is a Portuguese politician, lawyer and one of the members of the PCP serving in the European Parliament from 2024. He also served as a member of the Assembly of the Portuguese Republic for the PCP from 2007 to 2022. In a much-contested address in the Portuguese Parliament, then MP João Oliveira commented that the Russia-Ukraine war “was not a concern between Russians and Ukrainians” and that the battle only interests “the United States and its military-industrial complex”, without explicitly and unequivocally denouncing the Russian attack on Ukraine.
In March 2022, the two Communist Party MEPs voted against a resolution denouncing the attack. In a statement the party expressed the resolution was “fuelling the escalation”, “aiming to impose a unilateral opinion” and “explaining the colossal process of rising military expenditures, the strengthening and growth of NATO and the militarization of the European Union”.
In 2024, when the resolution was tabled in the EU Parliament titled “Moldova’s Resilience Against Russian Interference Ahead of Presidential Elections and EU Integration Referendum”, MEP João Oliveira rejected and criticised the resolution.
He said:
“This resolution on the situation in Moldova is an exercise in hypocrisy based on misinterpreting reality and embracing double standards, and is part of the US, NATO and EU’s approach of confrontation and war. Just days before a critical election, it seeks to condition the country and the sovereign determination of the Moldovan people. The resolution insists on worsening the sanctions policy, which jeopardises Moldova’s sovereignty.”
Similarly, MEP João Oliveira also rejected and denounced the resolution in the EU Parliament on
“Continued financial and military support to Ukraine by EU Member States.”
He expressed that it is crucial that the US, NATO and the European Union put a stop to the approach of instigating and broadening the conflict, urgently unlocking avenues for talks with the other parties engaged, including the Russian Federation.
