Admiral says defence investment should be theme of Portugal’s presidential campaign
On the day president elect Donald Trump sent NATO countries into a spin by saying they should be spending 5% of GDP on defence, not the current 2%, Portugal’s potentially unbeatable tip for the presidency has said that investment in Portuguese and European defence should be a theme of the campaign for Portugal’s presidential elections in January 2026.
Admiral Gouveia e Melo is holding his ‘trump card’ close to his chest, however – still refusing to say whether or not he will be a candidate in the ‘race’ that is ‘hotting up’, and seeing political parties suggesting names (as well as arguing among themselves about the possible choices).
Today, he was taking part in national newspaper Expresso’s ‘podcast festival’ – being recorded for an ‘Expresso da Manhã’ programme. One of the journalists taking part tried asking him if he was any closer to deciding whether or not he would run as a candidate for the presidency, but he was given the habitual brush off. “I have had very intense years, three commanding the Navy, the year before that related to the pandemic (when Gouveia e Melo ran the mass vaccination campaign), so I think I deserve a holiday at least for a while”, the admiral replied.
He “rejected the idea that the results of polls that show him as the favourite in the presidential race represent a factor of greater pressure to make a decision”, writes Lusa.
“I look at the polls, what they mean, I thank the Portuguese for the sympathy they often show, even in the street, and the trust they have in me, and that’s it for me,” he told his interviewers.
During the programme, the admiral insisted it is “urgent and necessary” to debate the issue of military defence of Portugal and Europe in the international context during the presidential campaign, considering that the country cannot shy away from a problem that can “affect” not only security, but also prosperity.
Russia is trying to “change (European) regimes that are democratic, and convert them into proto-democratic regimes, to put it bluntly”, he said, returning to his warnings of the recent past in which he said that Europe’s freedom, prosperity and security are at risk.
“What are we going to do? Are we going to pretend that the problem doesn’t exist? Don’t discuss it? Do we turn a blind eye?” he quizzed.
In the current context, international laws “are in question” and Portugal’s sovereignty over certain maritime zones could be jeopardised if this international system collapses.
With Donald Trump’s latest comments causing anxiety throughout the NATO block (remember Portugal is one of a number of countries that has not yet even managed to invest 2% of GDP in defence… it isn’t planning to get there before 2029), Gouveia e Melo was asked whether this investment “could mean cuts to social/ welfare policies?”
He replied that of course it could, but “what is the point of having social spending if we don’t have a country? Or if we have to obey an external, dictatorial authority?
“This is a set of weights and balances that we have to measure”, he concluded.
Tough talking, a long way from the ‘photo-op protests’ still ongoing in the capital involving ‘activists lining up against a wall in Lisbon to try and impress how ‘unfair’ it was of police to line immigrants up pre-Christmas, in a neighbourhood riddled with criminal activity. But this is possibly the admiral’s ‘appeal’: he has his eyes on the horizon, on the wider threat hanging over our cosy ‘free world’ that most people haven’t given themselves time to consider. ND
Source material: LUSA
