The government is going to move forward with negotiating the salary conditions of the military, especially the ranks, and intends to study new ways of recruiting volunteers, according to its program submitted to parliament today.
These are two measures in the document approved today by the Council of Ministers for the area of National Defence, which recognizes that the “population pyramid of the Armed Forces is progressively more deficient and inverted” in terms of personnel.
“The lower generational turnover in Portugal does not in itself explain the inability to attract, recruit, but above all maintain and develop solid professional careers at all hierarchical levels of the Armed Forces, which will deserve the government’s attention,” the Government Program considers.
In order to reverse this situation, Luís Montenegro’s executive intends to develop a negotiation process for the “significant improvement of salary conditions in general and, in particular, in the category of squares”, with the aim of guaranteeing the recruitment of volunteers needed to reach the authorized staffing levels.
Nuno Melo’s ministry will also, according to the document, “study other forms of voluntary recruitment” and will also “seek to strengthen incentives for contracted military personnel”, as well as “consider extending complementary social support to military personnel on voluntary, contract and special contracts”.
In addition, the Government Program indicates that solutions will be studied to make use of built heritage for the purposes of profitability and to respond to the shortage of military accommodation.
At the operational level, the government says it will step up its participation in international missions with National Detached Forces and National Detached Elements, within the framework of international organizations such as NATO, the UN and the European Union.
Dignifying and respecting former combatants and their memory, evaluating the nature and increase of the support granted to them, is another of the measures set out in the Program delivered today, which also proposes to improve the mechanisms for the reintegration of military personnel into civilian life.
The document considers that National Defense is an area of sovereignty that is traditionally consensual and convergent between the main parties and that recent changes in the geopolitical situation, such as the war in Ukraine and the Middle East, “have brought unprecedented internal and international challenges”.
“The government is committed to defending and promoting the strengthening of Portugal’s role in effective multilateralism within NATO, the European Union and the United Nations, while at the same time valuing the CPLP as a strategic asset for national interests and values, in terms of foreign, security and defense policy,” it said.
As a central objective in this area, Luís Montenegro’s government wants to provide Portugal with “capable and competitive” Armed Forces, with platforms in the various branches capable of ensuring the various missions, at national and international borders, on land, sea, air, cyberspace and space.
“It is also crucial to be able to take advantage of possible financing mechanisms in the European context for the purposes of greater efficiency and modernization of the European arms industry, even within the framework of a European Defence Fund, designed in connection and in collaboration with NATO,” says the programme, which will be discussed in the plenary session of Parliament on Thursday and Friday.
The Minister for the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, said that the document is based on AD’s electoral program, but incorporates more than 60 measures that coincide with those of other parties.
