In an interview recorded in Brussels on the same day the NATO Summit concluded in The Hague, Luís Montenegro stated that defense is a “new priority” for his government, emphasizing it does not compromise other areas.
“Our expectation—nobody has absolute certainty as the year is not over yet—is that everything indicates we are fully confident we will reach the end of the year with balanced public accounts and, therefore, with a new budget surplus,” he said.
When asked if achieving the 2% GDP target for defense this year would require reallocating funds from other areas like health, he replied, “Absolutely zero. We are not going to move a cent from any of our public policy areas.”
Pressed on how this investment, estimated at around one billion euros in The Hague, would be achieved, Luís Montenegro assured it is not “creative accounting.”
“We have not discovered any gold mine to pay these expenses,” he stated, adding that the government will allocate to defense “resources available from reserves in the Ministry of Finance and the execution capability of the budget itself.”
Looking ahead, he admitted that the government will need “a multiannual plan to continue increasing this investment in the coming years,” aiming to approach the 5% goal set for 2035.
The Prime Minister, as he had done at the end of the NATO Summit, detailed that the investment involves enhancing human resources in the Armed Forces as well as equipment, citing the need “to modernize Pandur vehicles,” “consider ocean patrol vessels,” and exploit the country’s existing “capability in aircraft construction, such as the KC-390.”
“We can do this, even considering our industry’s capabilities and maintenance capabilities in Portugal. This has the additional effect of leveraging our economy,” he stated.
When asked if the commitments made in The Hague were the result of U.S. pressure or a real necessity, Montenegro admitted it to be “a combination of both factors” and avoided commenting on U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of additional tariffs against Spain for refusing to increase defense spending.
“What we have to ascertain is whether this decision is the best one for our countries, for Europe, for the interest of our citizens. Today, our democracies are under grave threat,” he emphasized.
