The Minister of Foreign Affairs, João Gomes Cravinho states that everything possible is being done to accelerate European defense production capabilities. Cravinho believes that this will be the way to counter the Kremlin’s strategy.
“Putin, we already know, relies on time as an ally, that is, he believes that time works in his favor. [e] believes that over time it will be able to reduce Ukraine’s capabilities and achieve its objective,” he stated, defending the strengthening of the defense industry, and thus responding to criticism from Kiev, regarding the current difficulty of the European defense industry in responding to the demands of a war like the one in Ukraine.
João Gomes Cravinho spoke in Brussels, at the end of the first meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council, in which the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs participated. This morning, Dimitri Kuleba criticized the limited capabilities of the European defense industry.
At the entrance to the meeting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dimytro Kuleba criticized the limitations of the defense industry in the European Union, pointing out the need for “people with specific knowledge about how things work, how [stocks] of spare parts, how supply chains work.” Kuleba says that these experts “have to sit down and figure it out, otherwise Europe will be defenseless.”
However, the Portuguese minister made it clear that the scenario will change soon, since “there is now a process of acceleration of the work being done at the European level, promoting support for Ukraine and, therefore, our expectation is that during these coming months will be recorded if a successive increase occurs”.
João Gomes Cravinho also stated that Portugal is preparing to send a new support package to Ukraine, while the Ministry of Defense is already “working on a new aid package for Ukraine, of the order of 200 tons. In other words, it is a package that corresponds approximately to a 20% increase compared to what we have already donated.
João Gomes Cravinho also downplayed the controversy with Hungary, which threatens to block European aid to Ukraine, stating that he “hopes” at the next summit, “in December, that Hungary is not incapable of recognizing the geostrategic reality and that what are the interests of the European Union.
“All countries in the European Union will have to recognize the geostrategic challenge we face. Naturally, in these circumstances, as we have seen repeatedly, Hungary seeks to improve its own conditions through a difficult negotiation process,” Cravinho said.
Source: TSF
