The position was expressed by the Left Bloc (BE) coordinator, Mariana Mortágua, during a statement to journalists in parliament, where she reiterated her party’s demand for Portugal to break away from NATO.
In The Hague today, before the NATO summit, the Portuguese Prime Minister was asked whether Portugal is committed to the 5% of GDP on military spending, comprising 3.5% on traditional military expenses (Armed Forces, equipment, and training) and an additional 1.5% on investments like infrastructure and industry.
Luís Montenegro responded: “We will achieve this with balance, progressively, aligning all our responsibilities, notably financial stability, and through it, also the responsibility to ensure Portuguese citizens receive all social responses without harming any of our public policy axes with this investment boost.”
In front of journalists, Mariana Mortágua noted that Luís Montenegro “for the first time agreed, or admitted for the first time, to agree to the goal set by NATO Secretary-General [Mark Rutte] and [Donald] Trump of 5% on Defense spending, of which 3.5% for 2035 exclusively on armaments.”
“This means, on average, spending an additional 450 million euros every year on armaments. In a country unable to ensure education for everyone, unable to ensure health, public services, or make necessary infrastructure investments, it is committing to spend 5% of GDP, another 450 million euros a year, on armaments just to serve the orders of Trump and the NATO Secretary-General,” she accused.
For the BE coordinator, “this subservience to Donald Trump and NATO does not benefit or defend Portugal.”
Mariana Mortágua further indicated that the Portuguese Prime Minister did not follow the decision of his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sánchez, and eventually “admitted to spending more on weapons.”
In the initial part of her statement, the BE coordinator again argued that Portugal should exit NATO, considering it “a dangerous alliance for Portugal.”
“We have the NATO Secretary-General greeting the United States President, addressing him as dear Donald, and witnessing an intervention that violates international law in Iran. We basically have the NATO Secretary-General saying to the United States President that he has managed to convince European countries to spend lavishly — and this expression is from the NATO Secretary-General — on military expenses,” Mariana Mortágua pointed out.
The Left Bloc deputy then linked this investment with the interest of the United States in European military spending.
“We know that a part of these military expenses is destined for the American industry,” she asserted.
Portugal has already committed to reaching the goal of 2% of GDP in Defense this year, without a supplementary budget, cuts in social expenses, or harming public finances, which means an increase of about 1.3 billion euros.
