The defense minister assured this Wednesday that the proposal for a Military Programming Act (LPM) involved the heads of the armed forces departments, who were aware of the funding model, which “has a calculated risk in taking own income”. .
Helena Carreiras, who is being heard in the parliamentary defense committee, in the Assembly of the Republic, said regarding the drafting process of the draft military programming law (LPM) – currently under discussion in the specialty phase – that “the amounts involved and the underlying financing model” were known to all involved.
The minister said that during the drafting of the bill, “meetings between the government and military leaders worked on capacity planning, projects, but also self-revenue financing modalities, a practice with almost 20 years of revenue development in two ways, looking for assets that can be sold, as happened in the past with the sale of the C-212, the João Belo frigates, the Puma helicopters, a recent, well-known and well-known case. F-16 to Romania”.
Helena Carreiras stated that it had been decided “that the collection of own income in the field of heritage would be not only an adequate solution but also a necessary one, given the existence of extensive National Defense resources with no operational use, which can be monetized must be made”.
After drafting the bill, Helena Carreiras continued, “the formal steps followed”: the Council of Chiefs was consulted and unanimously issued a favorable opinion, and the Higher Military Council also approved it.
“Then the government submitted the same document to the Supreme Council of National Defense, for a non-binding opinion. financed from its own revenues and tax revenues. During the phase of the legislative process, in the Council of Ministers, the difference of this amount was detailed in the Annex to provide more transparency and clarity to the citizens. Prior to the approval by the Council of Ministers, the interested parties were informed, ” guaranteed.
Helena Carreiras insisted “the total investment in this proposal was based on the sum of these two funding sources throughout the process, with no funds deducted at any point”.
The minister stressed that “there is a calculated risk in taking out own income”, but its weight over the 12 years that the LPM is valid “it stands at 5%, with a forecast of 12% in the first four years, in line with other revisions such as those of 2006 and 2015 with weights of 12% and 11% respectively”.
“This government decision, worked out with and by the military leadership, followed the steps and procedures established by law, the financing modalities and the allocation of resources were known to those involved, recognizing that defense investments must be consistent with other public policies, based on resources that are naturally scarce”rounded.
The weekly Expresso reported in May that the government had amended the Military Programming Act (LPM) after the proposal received a unanimous favorable opinion in January from the Supreme Council of National Defense, a body chaired by the president of the republic . “amazed the army”.
According to this newspaper, the proposal was approved by the Council of Ministers in March and before being sent to parliament, “a line in the financial framework” was added, which stated that 5.292 million will come from resources from the state budget – which means that 278 million euros will have to come from its own income until 2034 in order to reach the total amount provided.
Source: DN
