The Livre party has posed a question to the head of the PSD/CDS-PP executive, Luís Montenegro, inquiring if the Portuguese Government was informed about the intended use of the Lajes Air Base in the Azores by the US Air Force, which has recently intensified its presence there with over a dozen refueling aircraft.
Given the current Middle East tensions, Livre asks if the Portuguese Government can assure that the US planes using the base “were not employed to attack Iran or otherwise assist such an attack, contrary to International Law.”
The question, signed by parliamentary leader Isabel Mendes Lopes, seeks to know if the national executive was “informed in advance” of the US attacks on Iran, where on Saturday night, the three main facilities involved in the Iranian nuclear program were bombed. It also questions what stance the government intends to take on these attacks, “both nationally and with European partners.”
“Does the Government consider these attacks to comply with International Law, particularly the United Nations Charter? If not, what actions does the Government intend to take with the UN to condemn these attacks?” the document states.
Livre also wants to know what measures have been or will be adopted to ensure that national territory, “especially the Lajes Base, including Portuguese airspace, is not directly or indirectly used to facilitate actions contrary to International Law.”
With about two days to go before the start of the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Livre deems it important for the Portuguese Government “to be clear in its opposition to increasing military spending to 5% of GDP – a strategy by Donald Trump to boost the purchase of military equipment from the USA.”
The party notes that this opposition has already been shown by countries like Spain and emphasizes that “this proposal for increase is made by Donald Trump as a strategy to purchase military equipment from the USA.”
“Will the Government revise its national strategy for acquiring military material, namely by reducing and avoiding purchases from the USA and investing in European production and interoperability of European components, equipment, and systems?” asks the party.
