João Soares, former Minister of Culture, asserted on Sunday night during RTP1’s newscast that the presence of over a dozen U.S. Air Force refueling planes at the Lajes Air Base on Terceira Island in the Azores, prior to the U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, does not represent anything “abnormal.”
“It is good for the Portuguese authorities, opposition parties, and the regional government to be informed, but there was nothing abnormal there,” he stated, noting that this has been happening for many decades.
“The agreement there allows for military use, a treaty made in the 1940s with the British for Santa Maria, later transferred for air strategy reasons to Terceira,” he argued.
The socialist laments the “inexistence of Europe,” which he finds “embarrassing.”
“I am among those who still believe in the European project. I think it’s one of the most fantastic projects of the last century, but we lack weight, we don’t have an interlocutor. It’s embarrassing,” emphasized João Soares, recalling the Portuguese António Costa and António Guterres, who hold international positions but, according to him, “have not played an active role.”
“We must acknowledge — with some national sadness — that we have a man with all sorts of skills, knowledge, and intelligence who hasn’t played an active role, which is António Costa. If there is one position where he would be perfectly at ease, it is the [President of the European Council],” he noted, also mentioning the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
“I am a fan of António Guterres, I have always supported him, he has immense intelligence, but it pains me to see a man of that quality making appeals to good sense, when no one listens, no one says anything,” he remarked.
It should be noted that the Lajes Base, located on Terceira Island in the Autonomous Region of the Azores, received more than a dozen U.S. Air Force planes last week, days before the U.S. destroyed Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Parties requested clarifications from the AD Government, which disclosed that authorization was given for the landings of the U.S. Air Force refueling planes at the Lajes Air Base. However, the Ministry of Defense assured that these were not combat aircraft.
In addition to PS, Livre, and BE, the PCP also reacted to the passage of U.S. aircraft through Lajes Base, accusing the Executive of being “complicit” in the war that has intensified in recent days in the Middle East.
A U.S. Department of Defense source stated to Lusa that “the US European Command routinely hosts U.S. military aircraft (and personnel) on a transitory basis, in accordance with base access and overflight agreements with allies and partners.”
