With housing prices soaring and emergency services facing closures and healthcare challenges, Mariana Mortágua criticized the government for choosing to invest in armaments. Speaking in Beja, Mortágua declared, “If there’s an area exempted from deficit rules, it’s armaments. It makes no sense in a country with such investment needs—in railways, housing, and healthcare—to prioritize spending more on weapons.”
The BE coordinator made these remarks in Beja during an event with immigrants and activists, coinciding with the inauguration of the party’s headquarters for the May 18 legislative elections.
Reacting to statements made by the Prime Minister, who confirmed Portugal’s request to Brussels to activate the safeguard clause exempting defense investments from European budgetary rules, Mortágua expressed her disapproval. This development was supported by Luís Montenegro, who made his remarks at the Apostolic Nunciature in Lisbon while signing a condolence book for the Pope’s passing.
The Prime Minister informed reporters that the government had briefed the opposition’s largest party, PS, about its procedure with the European Commission to activate the safeguard clause.
For Mortágua, prioritizing defense spending implies neglecting crucial areas like health, housing, and education. She emphasized the need to speak truthfully amid widespread support for what she described as a misguided race to conflict, not grounded in facts.
“We don’t need more weapons; we need more houses, hospital beds, teachers, schools, public services, and investment,” she argued.
In response to Montenegro’s claim that defense investments would not compromise social welfare, Mortágua countered: “It obviously does. If there is investment capacity and it’s not being used in priority areas, it means our resources are being diverted,” she stated. Mortágua questioned why Portugal doesn’t prioritize future-protecting investments instead of engaging in what she called an irrational arms race benefiting only German and French arms industries.
