Portugal rejects the idea of a common European army and wants to focus on modernizing its own armed forces within NATO.
Portugal does not agree to the creation of a common European army and prefers the modernization of its own armed forces within the framework of the North Atlantic Alliance. Portuguese Defense Minister Nuno Melo also recalled on Wednesday that Lisbon stood at the founding of NATO and called the United States a key transatlantic partner. Reuters drew attention to it, TASR informs.
“We are not in favor of a unified European army,” Melo told the parliament’s defense committee. According to him, Portugal must invest in its armed forces in order to be able to fulfill the tasks entrusted to it within NATO.
Criticism of the European army
With doubts about US President Donald Trump’s commitment to NATO commitments, neighboring Spain recently called on the European Union to take steps to create a separate European military. However, several member states and the alliance’s general secretary Mark Rutte do not agree with the proposal, according to which the European states would have to invest much more than five percent of GDP in the joint army.
Melo also informed the deputies that the government managed to increase defense spending to 6.12 billion euros and to meet its goal of spending two percent of GDP on defense four years earlier.
New investments in defense
At the same time, Lisbon applied for loans in the amount of 5.8 billion euros under the EU SAFE program to strengthen its armed forces. The minister expects that if everything goes smoothly, the first ordered frigates, armored vehicles, satellites and drones could be delivered by 2030.
