"I believe it is a current book that tries to discuss this world that seems to have many networks, especially social networks, but is increasingly atomized, more isolated, more individualized and sometimes more selfish", summarized Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, who has been president of the Municipal Council of Vila Nova de Gaia, in the district of Porto, since 2013.

The book -- which adds the phrase "Looking ahead, believing in the future" to the title 'Changing World' -- has a preface by the former Minister of the Environment João Pedro Matos Fernandes.

Speaking to Lusa, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues said that he decided to add other "writings specifically to provide coherence and systematize the themes and subjects that are at stake" to a set of texts published in the Jornal de Notícias.

"Basically, it is a collection that thematically organizes a set of debates that I have based on themes that concern me on different scales, on a more global scale and on a more local and regional scale", he added.

War, crisis, the electoral system, immigration, projects such as high speed, among others, are themes that are part of the work because they are "very important and are on the agenda".

"War or wars and crisis or crises are probably the most important elements of balances on a global scale at this time. From a more humanist perspective, I would like to emphasize that we are, in some way and throughout this time, managing to naturalize all this", said the author.

The president of the Porto Metropolitan Area, who holds a PhD in sociology, lamented that "death or bombings of civilian areas are currently being normalized, for example, as if we were watching a television series with several seasons", which, in his opinion, is "contributing to cooling the blood that runs through our veins a little".

"We have come to see it as something distant and it is not. And as something natural, when it is not. This will have, and already has, translations of our way of being and existing and in the way we view the human and social dimension, the way we perceive ourselves as a collective", he said.

On the eve of the European elections, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues also highlighted the importance of discussing the role of Europe, recalling: "We cannot forget that Ukraine is not the European Union, but Europe".

"Europe has proven to be extremely passive. It is very strong in speeches, but then very weak in actions and it is enough to realize that every time the United States cuts off aid, basically everything stops. All the aid that Europe has had, with the exception of a major force from the United Kingdom, is basically moral aid", he considered.

Regarding national issues, the book includes, for example, an article on high speed "with a specific text due to the importance of the project and to counter that idea of megalomania".

"More personalist articles" are added, such as one paying tribute to Salvador Caetano, described by Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues as "an entrepreneur, an industrialist by nature, an inspiring man from Vila Nova de Gaia".

"Therefore, it is a 'mix' of things that does not claim to be an erudite book in terms of the strictly technical and academic component, but aims to put a set of issues that are part of our daily lives up for debate", he concluded.

Leia Também: Obras condicionam Avenida da República em Gaia a partir de sábado (Portuguese version)