The Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, announced today that Portugal will invest an additional 1.3 billion euros in Defense by the end of the year through a strategy driven by political support. Speaking at a conference organized by SIC Notícias called ‘A nova Defesa’ in Oeiras, Lisbon, he emphasized that achieving investment goals in this area of sovereignty requires a strategy agreed upon with the opposition.
The Prime Minister, responding to a challenge from PS Secretary-General José Luís Carneiro for a ‘Strategic Agreement for a National Development and Defense Capacity Plan’ with a three-month deadline, stated that the strategy will be more credible internally and externally with greater political backing.
He highlighted the PS as essential for defining long-term goals and committed to dialogue with all parties, acknowledging that the aim to reach 5% of GDP in Defense investments, set at the NATO summit last month, is ambitious.
“We have anticipated for the year 2025 an ambitious goal of reaching 2% of GDP [in Defense], which involves an expenditure increase of approximately 1.3 billion euros,” stated Luís Montenegro.
According to the Prime Minister, who had previously mentioned an investment increase of around 1 billion euros by the year’s end, this goal will be achieved through three main methods: maintaining and strengthening support for Ukraine.
“The second focus is strengthening our capabilities by advancing some of the goals we had set for the coming years, essentially accelerating equipment acquisition and achieving infrastructure investment targets,” he listed, following the announcement that the government plans to advance funds from the Military Programming Law (LPM).
Lastly, the Government is undertaking a “reclassification and reassessment of some ongoing investments and others to be made,” which are of a “dual nature,” meaning they serve both military and civilian purposes.
