The announcement was delivered by the Secretary of State Adjunct and for National Defense Policy, Nuno Pinheiro Torres, in response to Chega party MP Nuno Simões de Melo during a parliamentary debate on Portugal’s participation in Permanent Structured Cooperation.
The Chega MP inquired when the government plans to present a new national defense strategic concept to parliament, noting that the current one is over a decade old and still references “a bilateral partnership between NATO and Russia.”
The official acknowledged that the current strategic concept is “from another world in terms of security” and assured that the administration intends to “soon” propose a revision of this document to the lawmakers.
Nuno Pinheiro Torres stated the government aims to first review key documents such as the strategic concept, the missions of the Armed Forces, and the force system before proceeding with a revision of the Military Programming Law, proposed for “early next year.”
“The acquisition of new capabilities required will be conducted in accordance with the revision of the Military Programming Law, which will occur at the start of next year. Once the strategic concept and all resulting significant documents are approved, the Military Programming Law will be revisited,” he explained.
The Secretary of State emphasized that the equipment to be procured by Portugal will consider not only gaps in the national force system “but also the capability targets assumed by Portugal within NATO.”
At the latest NATO summit in The Hague at the end of June, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro declared that Portugal must increase its defense budget by about one billion euros by the end of the year to reach 2% of GDP. This will be achieved through “enhancing human resources,” meeting some Military Programming Law targets early, and investing in infrastructure.
The President of the Republic indicated on Tuesday that the National Defense Council reviewed investments in the sector until 2035 for the first time, alongside the necessity to revisit the Military Programming Law. This assessment is to continue after the summer.
The current Military Programming Law, which sets public investment in means and equipment for the Armed Forces and was approved in 2023, outlines a total amount of 5.57 billion euros until 2034.
