António Araújo / Lusa
“I have my explanation”, says PR: “either they were already Israeli planes, and specific authorization was needed for them to pass, or they were Americans, and then they have tacit approval”.
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, defended this Saturday that “it’s not worth asking a diplomatic question” of the passage of F-35 military planes bound for Israel through the Lajes Base, in the Azores.
Speaking to , Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa began by recalling that he was in Estonia when “this apparent clash of versions” and said: “my position is very simple: either they were already Israeli planes, and specific authorization was needed for them to pass, or they were Americans, and then they have tacit approval”.
The Portuguese head of state considers that it will be possible to “discuss how the American administration presented the issue”, but argues that “it is not worth making this a diplomatic issue”.
At issue is the, in the Azores, of three F-35 aircraftsold by the United States of America to Israel, without prior knowledge by the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel.
This situation constituted a “obvious procedural failurecontrary to the internal instructions given by the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, which are otherwise publicly known”, according to a note from Palácio das Necessidades.
Marcelo does not require explanations
Asked whether he will ask the Government led by Luís Montenegro for explanations on the issue, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa replied no.
“Eu I have my explanation – which is what I was told at the time – which was that the American administration said they were Americans and implied that they were on their way to Israel. Now what this person on the way means or doesn’t mean… The fact is that there was no communication to the minister that could have been. And what is also a fact is that the tacit deferral system only exists for the Americans because the base is concessioned to them”, he stated.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MNE) recognized a procedural failure, internally, when it was not informed by the services of the planes’ passage.
The movement of aircraft, in April, received a favorable opinion from the AAN (National Aeronautical Authority), which depends on the Ministry of National Defense, and had “tacit communication and authorization”, according to the MNE. The failure, according to the Government, did not allow for an alert to be sent to a political level that would allow an opposition decision to be taken.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, asked if he considers that the Government could have handled this matter differently, replied that “it is not the Government”.
“Here apparently it was a bureaucratic operation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which had nothing to do with the minister,” he said.
PS, PCP and Livre have already announced that they will call the head of diplomacy, Paulo Rangel, to parliament, as well as the Minister of Defense, Nuno Melo, whose resignation was requested by the Left Bloc and refused by the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro.
