Investment in defence will include national indsutries

Investing in National Defence will follow "a golden rule": "modernisation and refurbishing the Military always with the involvement of the national defence industry", stated the Minister of National Defence Nuno Melo, adding that will also respect "two prerequisites".

The first prerequisite is "to never under any circumstance jeopardise the Social State", and the second prerequisite is "to never jeopardise the economy’s good performance and, if possible, boost the economy’s performance", he added during his speech at the end of the first day of discussions around the Government Programme in Parliament.

Nuno Melo said that Portugal presented to the allies "a credible plan to bring forward the target of 2% of GDP invested in national defence, if possible, by the end of 2025", with investment in areas flagged by NATO to avoid redundancies regarding investment or production of other allies.

Unpredictable world

The Minister noted that the world is "more unpredictable and dangerous" and "it is quite possible that we are witnessing some of the most relevant geopolitical changes of the last few decades and quite probably changes that challenge the international order designed 80 years ago".

The European Union recognises today the need to take on "greater responsibility to boost collective defence in the Atlantic to compensate years of placing that effort on the United States and guarantee greater strategic autonomy".

"Portugal, through the Government, is up to its responsibilities, we are on our allies’ side, solidary with NATO to uphold democracy, freedom, and our way of life. We do what needs to be done in our Government. We hope that those who sit on the benches of our opposition don’t do any less", he added.