NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, visits Portugal this Thursday, as part of a series of meetings he has held with various member states of the Atlantic Alliance, focused on the conflict in Ukraine and prior to the organization’s summit in July .
On his trip to Lisbon, the Norwegian leader has scheduled a meeting with the Prime Minister, António Costa, followed by a press conference, in which the two leaders will have to address the invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24 of last year, that increased military strength. support for Ukrainian forces and kyiv’s intention to join NATO.
Some highlights of Stoltenberg’s visit to Portugal:
In recent weeks, Jens Stoltenberg has been very active in preparing for the next Alliance summit, which will take place in Vilnius on July 11 and 12, and in early April he was in Finland to attend Finland’s accession as 31st NATO member state, pending completion of Swedish integration.
At the same time, he met in Brussels with the organization’s foreign ministers -and also with the heads of diplomacy from South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand-, after having maintained that the “long-term goal is bring Ukraine out of the transatlantic family”.
On April 20, Stoltenberg paid a surprise visit to kyiv, insisting that his priority was a Ukrainian military victory over Russia.
On April 27, the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance received the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, and later met with the NATO Military Committee in Brussels.
In addition to these meetings, the NATO Secretary General has met in recent weeks with the Prime Minister of Estonia, the President of the Czech Republic and Head of Government of the United Kingdom, and spoke in Copenhagen at the Democracy Summit.
A meeting with the Alliance defense ministers is scheduled for June 15 and 16. The Ukrainian Defense Minister defended on Tuesday that “there is no alternative” to Ukraine’s entry into NATO and insisted on the idea that the former Soviet republic is the “shield of Europe” to face the Russian threat.
This is an idea followed by several member states of the Atlantic Alliance, starting with the Nordic countries and Poland, but which still deserves the reluctance of other countries in the organization, including Portugal, which fear an escalation of the conflict, involving the countries of the West and Moscow.
Stoltenberg has already confirmed that the issue of Ukraine’s membership of the Alliance will be discussed in July at the organization’s summit.
On his surprise visit to Kiev on April 20, the NATO leader heard from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that “the time has come” for the Atlantic Alliance to invite Ukraine to join the organization.
The NATO Secretary General spoke on Monday in favor of agreeing at the next summit on a multi-year program of support for Ukraine that allows Kiev to move towards the organization’s standards, both in terms of equipment and military doctrine, and thus make it fully with the Alliance,” Stoltenberg said in a speech at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit,
On April 4, the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, João Gomes Cravinho, stated that “it is not during a war that we can talk about new accessions”, explaining that at this moment “Ukraine will need to have security guarantees”.
The same idea was echoed by the President of the Portuguese Parliament, Augusto Santos Silva, who, during his visit to Kiev on May 2, reiterated Portugal’s support for Kiev’s accession process to the European Union, but was more cautious. regarding the integration of Ukraine. in NATO, in time of war.
Defense budget increase
At the last meeting of the NATO Military Committee, in Brussels, Stoltenberg called for continued support for Ukraine in the conflict against Russia and “political courage” for the 31 allies to increase defense spending, by a minimum of 2% of the Domestic Product. Rough. (GDP) and increase arms production.
On Monday, in his speech in Copenhagen, the NATO Secretary General returned to the issue and asked that this indicative value “is not a ceiling, but a minimum that all allies must contribute immediately and not in a decade”.
Portugal was the 9th member state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that dedicated the lowest percentage of GDP to Defense in 2022, although it was slightly closer to the target of 02% of GDP (1.38%) and expects to increase spending up to 1.66% this year -a goal that was initially set for 2024- and reach 2% by the end of the decade.
From 2014 to last year, most countries increased spending, only Turkey and Montenegro invest less in defense today than they did then.
Military support to Ukraine
Until the end of April, the member states of the NATO Organization had made available to Ukraine more than 1,500 armored vehicles and 230 tanks since the start of the invasion of the Russian Federation.
These amounts, according to Stoltenberg, “correspond to 98% of the equipment promised” to the Ukrainian Armed Forces to help repel the Russian invasion, including the shipment of modern tanks, such as the German-made Leopard 2, to which Berlin was reluctant. . to authorize. , but what happened, including three Portuguese vehicles (along with M113 armored vehicles, electric generators, ammunition and rescue vehicles), such as the UK Challenger 2 and, in the future, the US Abrams.
However, the secretary general of the Atlantic Alliance warned of the danger of “underestimating Russia”, since “what it lacks in quality” on the battlefield, “it is making up for in quantity”.
At the same time, Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andri Melnik said that Ukraine needs “ten times more military aid” than it has to defeat Russia, in which he was backed by Zelensky, who said it still does not have what it has. what is needed for the expected counteroffensive against the Russian lines in the east and south of the country.
Together with Stoltenberg, Zelensky has carried out intense diplomatic activity in recent days, which has taken him to Berlin, Paris, Rome and London, after thanking them for the support of weapons, tanks, ammunition, long-range missiles and sophisticated air defense systems. . .
modern fighters
Britain announced its intention to create an international coalition to help Ukraine obtain US F-16 fighter jets on Tuesday, following a meeting between British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte.
On the eve, the Ukrainian president thanked the UK for sending Storm Shadow long-range missiles and for agreeing to train Ukrainian pilots, saying he hoped France and other countries would also provide training.
On the same day, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he had “opened the door to train” Ukrainian fighter jet pilots “from now on.”
“Several other European countries are ready for this. I think talks are underway with the Americans,” the French president declared in an interview with the TF1 channel, considering on the other hand that a possible future delivery of combat aircraft to Kiev ” it would be a theoretical debate”.
The supply of F-16s has been a long-standing desire beyond Kiev, by Ukraine’s neighbor Poland, which has invested heavily in its defense, announcing that Ukraine has already received 28 fighter jets. shipped by Western countries, 14. of which are MiG-29s delivered by Warsaw.
In an interview with Lusa last March, on the occasion of the first year of the war in Ukraine, the Minister of Foreign Affairs ruled out the possibility of supplying F-16s from the Portuguese Air Force to Kiev.
But, as with modern and heavy tanks, ammunition reinforcement, anti-aircraft systems, financial aid packages for Kiev, and tightening sanctions against Moscow and its allies, this may not be a closed issue on the discussion table. conversations between Costa and Stoltenberg.
Source: TSF
