World. Portugal on Qatar’s blacklist
12 years ago, no one heard, or didn’t want to understand, how the 2022 World Cup ended up in the hands of some sheikhs from a country in the Middle East. Some press, mainly French – later it would be known why – questioned the choice and gave clues, but no one gave much importance to yet another backstage maneuver by Joseph Blatter (then FIFA president) and his acolytes. As time went by, expressions of violation, unworthy working conditions and human rights violations increased. Someone woke up to life and felt it was politically correct to question everything and everyone and Qatar 2022 came to be seen as the worst Championship in the World. The authorities in Portugal went after the wave and – as Nascer do SOL learned from an official source – the country will end up on the Qatar blacklist as soon as the World Cup ends, which could have political and economic consequences and affect the circulation of people between the two countries. The statements by the President of the Republic on human rights made at a conference in Doha, on the sidelines of the game between Portugal and Ghana, although they were softer, did not go down well with the Government of Qatar, which they had already considered “hostile” according to previous statements by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Prime Minister António Costa. Incidentally, the Portuguese ambassador in Doha, Paulo Pocinho, was immediately summoned to the deputy prime minister of Qatar.
The incident, as Nascer do SOL also knows, is forcing the Portuguese diplomatic corps to make efforts so that the situation does not escalate and the good bilateral relationship is maintained. It should be noted that, years ago, the Portuguese Government requested Qatar’s help in the purchase of national public debt, at a time when the country was on the verge of bankruptcy.
But it’s not just Portugal that is in Qatar’s sights, which also didn’t like public criticism from Denmark, Germany and France – and the French even recently went to Qatar to ask for energy help.
Read the full article on the Nascer do Sol website