But minister admits country will go higher if it has to
Foreign affairs minister Paulo Rangel has admitted that “a big effort” will be required for Portugal to spend 2% on defence this year (as it is almost certainly going to have to do, given that 2% is already seen as ‘far too little’).
With all eyes on how the chips fall at the NATO summit in the Hague in 12 days’ time, Rangel has stressed that Portugal will meeting the 5% target that has been bandied about for some time now if this is the decision coming out of the summit.
“If NATO has this obligation, it is an obligation that we must fulfil if we want to remain in NATO, and we are a disciplined people – albeit with great flexibility and improvisation skills,” he added.
The country’s NATO contribution – and how it falls so short of requirements in the current geopolitical context – has been repeatedly pushed onto the back burner through Portugal’s recent political ‘turbulence’. But now that snap elections have returned the centre-right government, Rangel concedes “this is a discussion that has to be had”.
Says Lusa, “without wanting to give deadlines or investment figures, matters that are being negotiated ‘behind the scenes’ within the Atlantic Alliance, (Rangel) recalled that NATO proposes that the 5% be divided into 3.5% for military spending and the remaining 1.5% for infrastructure that can be civilian and have military uses.
“That is what is on the table. Now, for what timeframe? That is the big question being discussed, so not everything has been negotiated,” he said on the sidelines of the conference in Lisbon yesterday commemorating Portugal’s 40 years in the European Union: The Legacy of Mário Soares and the Challenges of the Future”. ND
