Armed forces should be ‘centre of concerns’ – minister

Portugal’s minister of defence, Nuno Melo, argued today that “it is time to put the Armed Forces back at the centre of the concerns of political power and in the priorities of the Portuguese people“. Promising measures to enhance the status of the military, both present and past, he said that Portugal’s Armed Forces “are the first expression of sovereignty and the last frontier of independence” for the country. Mr Melo was speaking at a ceremony in Borba (Évora) commemorating the 359th anniversary of the Battle of Montes Claros