The president of the republic defended this Wednesday that now is the time to value national defense with more investment, taking advantage of the revision of the strategic defense concept and the military programming law.
“We should take this opportunity, which is an important opportunity to appreciate national defense, at a time when we need to adopt a strategic defense concept that is adapted – what we have 40 years ago – to the change in NATO and the change in the European Union”said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in Belém, Lisbon.
According to the head of state and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, it will be necessary to “adapt resources, capabilities to this Strategic Defense Concept”.
“Thirdly, we will have a new military programming law for a long period of time, more than a decade, in stages, we have to adapt to this reality,” he added.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa answered questions from journalists in the former royal arena, next to the Belém Palace, in Lisbon, about the case of naval personnel who refused to board the ship the Mondego, in Madeira, because of insufficient security measures.
Asked about the resolution of the Council of Ministers published today in Diário da República authorizing the Navy to spend 39 million euros between 2023 and 2025 to acquire ship maintenance services, the head of state replied:
“I’ve been following this because the military programming bill is being debated, which will then go to parliament.”
According to the President of the Republic, the Minister of National Defense, Helena Carreiras, has committed herself to “a lot of commitment to maintenance” since taking office.
“Maintenance, of course, is important in the Navy, that’s what we’re talking about now, for example, it’s very important in airplanes, it’s very important in the military. This implies more investment in National Defense in this year 2023, and for the future, because the military programming law is in effect for a very long period of time and is immediately enforced”continued.
According to him, “it is logical that funds are already available for this in this year’s budget”.
Preserving military resources “is very important not only because of the war in Ukraine, which drew attention to strengthening the national defense component, but also because of past accumulated needs that need to be addressed,” he said. said.
The President of the Republic and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces pointed to the example of “technological modernization” of Leopard tanks in cooperation with Germany.
“The project is more ambitious, it is also in collaboration, perhaps with Germany, to retrain those who have some form of conditionality, although operational,” he said.
For the head of state “there is therefore an opportunity that must be seized to benefit the so-called military capabilities” of Portugal.
Source: DN
