António Costa’s government will have lied about the investment it made in Defense

The Minister of National Defense accused the Socialist Party of having communicated to NATO, in 2023, an incorrect value of the weight of military expenses in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), stating that this is 1.34% and not 1.48 %.

Nuno Melo reportedthis Wednesday, that the António Costa’s government lied in the investment in Defense that he communicated to NATO in 2023

“In 2023, the number reported by the Government to NATO for Defense investment was 1.48% [do PIB] and therefore, when we started our functions we thought of starting from 1.48%. I am very sorry to have to communicate today to the deputies and the country that the value that was reported by the PS to NATO of 1.48% is not true”, accused Nuno Melo, who is being heard in the Assembly of the Republic, within the scope of the State Budget proposal for 2025 (OE2025).

According to the government official, the value of investment in Defense “was 1.34% and not 1.48%”, which is equivalent to “300 million less investment in Defense in 2023”.

Still, Nuno Melo stated that the PSD/CDS Government will maintain the target of reaching 2% of GDP in military spending by 2029, highlighting that it will have to fill this value.

PS disputes accusation

The PS deputy Luís Dias asked for the floor to contest this accusationstating that the revision of the GDP value “obviously affects and has consequences for the value of executions”.

Nuno Melo responded to the socialist by pointing out that the 300 million euros in question are related “to the principle of onerousness of the operational buildings of the Armed Forces, which was not paid off in 2023 and only arrived in 2024”, “87 million euros of own revenues from the Military Programming Law, other own revenues” and “a difference between what was executed compared to the forecasts, starting with the GNR and the Caixa Geral de Aposentações”.

“We are talking about everything that you should have done but didn’t do and, not having done it, unfortunately resulted in a 300 million difference that we will now, unfortunately, have to communicate to NATO”, he stated.

The socialist accused the Government of having presented a budget “based on a lie”, refuting the accusation of lack of investment in recent years in the area of ​​Defense.

Luís Dias argued that Defense budgets had an upward trajectory, stated that the previous Government left the largest ‘surplus’ in Portuguese democracy to the current executive, and criticized the fact that the Ministry of Defense is the authority with the second largest number of captivations.

The socialist also accused Nuno Melo of the ministry’s lack of weight in the Government, and considered that the budget proposal aims to “put the CDS on the PSD’s leash”.

In his response, Nuno Melo accused the PS of having carried out budget management based on “advertise, spend and not pay”.

“You didn’t do anything, you were the biggest disaster in National Defense, I would say, perhaps, in Portuguese democracy”, said Melo, who criticized the deputy’s “boldness”.

Luís Dias insisted that the Government lies about the legacy of the PS: “Mister Minister, with full coffers, permanent staff in the Army and Air Force, with military programming made for several years… in Alentejo we say «with my father’s pants on, I’m a great man too»”.