The Government will maintain the objective of achieving at least 2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in defense by 2030, but wants to show NATO that this goal is achievable, the Minister of Foreign Affairs announced today.
“Of course the target is to be met, we just have to have a credible trajectory in this matter, the target was 2% in 2030, so that’s what’s agreed, let’s see how we can make our response credible,” said Paulo Rangel, at the end of a ministerial meeting at the Atlantic Alliance headquarters in Brussels.
During the campaign for the legislative elections on March 10, PSD president Luís Montenegro had already rejected Portugal’s idea to bring forward the target, despite the insistent calls from the secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, and even from the United States.
According to the 2023 NATO Secretary General’s report, Portugal invested around 1.48% of its GDP in defense, below the 1.66% forecast by the previous government.
At last year’s NATO summit, the allied countries pledged to invest at least 2% of their GDP in defence, in response to the growing militarization of Russia and other countries whose geopolitical influence worries the Atlantic Alliance.
Jens Stoltenberg’s report shows that by 2023 only 11 of the 31 member states (Sweden had not yet joined at the time) had reached the minimum target.
Poland topped the ranking, investing 3.94% of its GDP in the armed forces.
