“Parliamentary group members of the Socialist Party will request the appearance of two ministers, the Foreign Affairs Minister Paulo Rangel and the National Defense Minister Nuno Melo, in the Assembly of the Republic,” he stated, adding that they must clarify “the nature of the matter and the lack of communication between the two ministries.”
Speaking to journalists, PS Secretary-General José Luís Carneiro expressed that Rangel’s statements “are of serious concern and demand clear explanations,” noting that Rangel claimed to be “unaware of an aerial operation using national territory and was not informed as he should have been.”
José Luís Carneiro made these remarks in the municipality of Machico, Madeira, following a walkabout for the local elections campaign scheduled for October 12, prior to a rally at the Machico Forum, featuring all lead candidates for the autonomous region’s municipalities.
According to a statement released on Thursday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MNE), overseen by Paulo Rangel, three U.S. aircraft made a stop at the Azorean Lajes base en route to Israel without any prior notification to the Portuguese government, described as a “procedural failure” for which the head of Portuguese diplomacy seeks to determine responsibility.
The note states that this operation occurred with “communication and tacit authorization (i.e., by the expiration of the respective period)” and had already received a favorable opinion from the National Aeronautical Authority (AAN), under the National Defense Ministry led by Nuno Melo.
The MNE emphasizes that “the stopover and flyover of three American aircraft for delivery to Israel,” which occurred on April 22, does not mean there was a “strict violation of commitments made by the Ministry or Government in this matter,” referring to the embargo on arms sales and the passage of military materials through national territory to Israel, as determined by the executive of Luís Montenegro.
