Portugal took over as rotating president of the European Union on July 1st.

One of the first duties of the country would be to play host to a key summit with Brazil this week. Portugal, which took over from Germany, will also host summits with African nations and separate talks with Russia, China, India and Ukraine.
Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates meets with the EU's 27-member executive under European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso — also Portuguese — in the northern city of Porto on Monday to discuss his busy EU presidency agenda and strategy. Socrates told reporters on the eve of assuming the EU chair that he was optimistic he could usher all 27 EU governments into finalizing the new treaty by an October summit.

"We know all member states accept that Europe needs to have a new treaty," he said, adding he had "no doubts the treaty will be ... approved" at the summit, to be held in Lisbon.

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