Donald Trump in Brussels
Former head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces very critical of the “almost outrage” climate coming from the US. “This is not a passing cloud, this is a four -year storm.”
General Luís Valença Pinto considers that “At this moment the born died ” since “There is no transatlantic bond” Between the current US administration of Donald Trump and the European nations, which must make “a defense planning.”
“How is there a transatlantic bond with a person who says the things Mr. Trump says? That Mr. Vance came here to Europe to say? What did the Secretary of Defense come to Europe to say? There is no, ”defended the general in statements to Lusa agency.
The former head of the Armed Forces General Staff between 2006 and 2011 considered that no one currently “can assume as quiet” that the Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty-which establishes that an attack on one of NATO’s member countries is an attack on everyone- “It’s there to be triggered.”
This is one of the two articles that the general classified as essential in the founding treaty of NATO. The other, “also important, but not as decisive as this, is article 4” relating to “allied consultation”. And asks: “How is there consultation between allies when the climate is of absolute disputealmost offense, almost out of the ultra, coming from the United States? ”He asked.
In the opinion of General Valença Pinto, the NATO “is there, formally” and “the best that can happen to it is to be frozen once again”, considering that this is difficult in the current context.
“Right now, unlike what was happening in 2017 and 2021, in the first term Trump, we have a sad thing, a serious thing, called a conflict that Russia imposed on Ukraine And therefore, it is very difficult to be frozen when there is such a thing next door, on the same continent, ”he said.
Questioned about the statement of the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Pedro Duarte, who on Wednesday, in a debate on the subject in the Assembly of the Republic, said that the relationship between Portugal and the US is “absolutely fundamental” and does not depend on “momentary contexts “Valença Pinto considered it to be” a statement of goodwill. “
The general stressed that Donald Trump has a four -year term, and “does not seem to moderate language” or “attitude and behavior”, rejecting that a “conjuncture situation” is concerned.
“There is no pseudo-atllantism that can, in my view,-and say with a lot of hurt,-to substantiate the idea that this is a passing thing. This is not a passing cloud, this is a four -year storm And with great manifestations of Borrasca, ”he said.
In the opinion of the former military chief, the fact that millions of Portuguese live in US territory or the business relationship between the two countries cannot “change or condition” Portugal’s vision in relation to the US.
“Our vision has to be built in the light of reality. How do the United States look to the world and in particular to Europe? … They look at Europe with contempt and animosity, end point. And what we can do is to regret it and then work constructively with our European partners. Not against the US, it is evident, but in favor of peace, human rights, freedom, the right of expression, the primacy of the law, ”he argued.
European army? It’s just “a soundbite”
Valença Pinto considered that “It is more than in the time of Europe, once and for all, take care of its security and defense”.
Stating that the idea of an eventual European army is only “a soundbite”, the general stressed that the NATO also does not have its own army, but “a set of forces that the countries attribute to the Atlantic alliance, with different degrees of binding, some ready, some less ready. ”
In the general’s opinion, “this is what the European Union has to do, a defense planning.”
“We are in a time, here in Europe, when, like in other areas of European process, the defense will be based on a process of shared sovereignty and the two, one: or Portugal wants to be part of this process of shared sovereignty, associating- Whether to others or, if you do not want, will be completely marginalized and secondary in European proceedings, ”he warned.
