Prime Minister guarantees that spending 5% of GDP on Defense will not happen: “it is not feasible” in the short or medium term. “We will do it, but not on the scale we are talking about.”
The Portuguese Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, guarantees that an expenditure of 5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) defined by the North American President, Donald Trump, for NATO countries “not feasible” in the short or medium term.
“Naturally, it is not feasible in the short term, nor in the medium term, a relationship like this in terms of expenditure versus the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). We need to be aware that it is understandable that allied states are asked to make a greater effort at a time when the response also has to be greater. Investing in the Atlantic Alliance means protecting our sovereignty and security”, he highlighted.
Donald Trump recently criticized Europe’s contributions to NATO and suggested that member states increase their defense spending to 5% of GDP.
“This government has brought forward one year, to 2029, for us to reach 2% of defense expenditure compared to GDP, and we remain firm in this objective. Perhaps we will have to reevaluate it when necessary. If we have to do it, we will do it, not in the dimension we are talking about. I believe that it is not useful for European leaders to constantly comment on one or another consideration made by the President of the United States. Nobody gains much from this”, he highlighted, speaking to Lusa.
In December, the NATO leader also called for Cold War-level military spending, after the Financial Times reported that NATO will set a new spending target of 3% of GDP by 2030.
In any case, the new NATO target forces Portugal to double defense spending: military spending would rise from 3 billion euros to 6,400 million euros and each Portuguese person would spend an additional 320 euros per year on defense spending, according to .
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s current commitment—fulfilled by all but eight members—is spend at least 2% of GDP on defenseexplains Politico.
Montenegro calls for “dialogue” and “bridges”
“In addition to the issues that Europe has to face and have to resolve independently of its relationship with the United States of America, there are others that are at a crossroads”, revealed Montenegro, pointing out economic, international trade and knowledge issues, among others.
“What I hope is that the bridges and dialogue that have characterized Europe’s relationship with the United States are safeguarded and that things can be balanced,” he said.
“Invest” and bet on the defense industry
Luís Montenegro rejected the idea that betting and investing more in defense is penalizing social support.
“That’s not the idea. And on our part we won’t. When we allocate more financial support to this area, it is also to create jobs, to be able to pay more salaries, to be able to develop technologies and equipment, which in turn feed other industries”, he highlighted.
“We should not understand this as replacing the investment made in defense with investment that is not made in social areas, on the contrary. By investing in defense, we create more financial resources in our industrywe will also have the state benefiting from this growth and being able to have more revenue to cover social expenses”, he added.
The executive leader highlighted the importance of the areas of defense and security for developing the European economy.
“Or we also collaborate in production, and, therefore, we can make industries have an impact on our economy with everything they leverage in terms of job creation, provision of services, all related areas that contribute from materials to food technologies an industry with this complexity and technicality as well. Either we can supply ourselves and we can sell to our partners and allies, or, if we don’t do that, we will do as we have done so far, which is to buy abroad to account for our participation”, he highlighted.
“The project we have, and we have been working on for many months with a taskforce between the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Defense, so that we can stimulate and encourage projects to be born in Portugal, from Portuguese companies, and we can also attract some foreign direct investment in this matter”, said the Prime Minister, once again launching a I appeal to Portuguese businesspeople to invest and invest in the defense industry.
Luís Montenegro once again assured that he was committed to continuing economic-financial, political and humanitarian support for Ukraineadmitting that the government is fulfilling the commitments it made.
“We are making our share of effort, and it is not that little, and we intend to continue providing this collaboration. Obviously always making a correlation between what our contributions are with what the reality that can evolve is”, he maintained.
