The prime minister said on Thursday that Portugal will be able to “accelerate convergence” to reach the 2% GDP target reserved for defense if community funds are made available, committing only to achieving this target “throughout the decade.”
Currently, in the framework of discussions [na União Europeia] on security and defense policy, discussing the existence of community resources. If these community resources exist, naturally we can accelerate the convergence towards this goal”, said António Costa, referring to the goal of 2% of GDP allocated to defense, assumed by NATO Allies at a summit in Wales in 2014.
The President of the Government was speaking at a press conference in the Madrid Exhibition Park, in the northeast of the Spanish capital, at the end of the summit of Heads of State and Government of the Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Costa stated that, since 2018, Portugal has clarified “in writing” that the pace of its convergence towards “the target set in Wales of 2% of GDP would necessarily be depends on the framework of available Community funds“.
“In 2018, (…) in the debate on the Multiannual Financial Framework, a defense fund was expressly provided for. Then, in the final agreement, on the Multiannual Financial Framework, that fund disappeared”, he recalled.
The prime minister thus underlined that, during the NATO summit, Portugal reaffirmed that aims to reach 2% “over the decade”reiterating that the country “does not like to assume commitments that are not certain and safe.”
“The world is living, Europe is living, and Portugal is also necessarily experiencing a moment of uncertainty, with very significant inflationary pressure and, with us having a central objective of our financial policy, which is to achieve a significant reduction in our public debt,” he said. .
The Prime Minister stressed that the Government intends that, at the end of the legislature, the country’s public debt “will be around 100% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)”.
“And, therefore, we have to reconcile the needs we have to meet this objective with the need to continue ensuring the financing of all the activities that the Portuguese State ensures, in the area of education, in the area of health, in the field of social policies, in the field of housing policy, and also necessarily in the field of Defense policy”.
For António Costa, “it is in the combination of these multiple needs and resources” available to the Portuguese State, that the Government “every year” “accommodates solutions in the budget, without ever forgetting” the objective of reducing the deficit and the public debt. “to ensure the future sustainability of the country”.
Asked if the Government is committed to reaching 2% of GDP at the end of the legislature, Costa replied: “No, at the end of the decade.”
The Prime Minister also reiterated that Portugal advanced to 2023 the goal that had been set for 2024 in terms of investment in Defense, specifically the objective of allocating 1.66% of GDP for this purpose.
According to estimates published by NATO on Monday, Portugal should reserve, in 2022, 1.44% of GDP for Defense.
In September 2014, a few months after Russia annexed Crimea, NATO leaders, meeting at a summit in Wales, pledged to spend 2% of their GDP on Defense.
In this context, Portugal established a plan to reinforce its investment according to which, in 2024, 1.68% of the national GDP would be reserved for Defense.
Source: Observadora
